For Assia Tuyirangamire, pursuing a university degree once meant constantly worrying about money. The first-year student at the University of Rwanda, originally from Taba in Huye District, had to find about Rwf4,000 every week just to travel between home and campus. Printing course materials, buying stationery, and paying for meals quickly became overwhelming expenses for someone without a job.

At times, keeping up with the costs of university life felt impossible.

But the steep hills in her community – once uncultivated and prone to erosion – have unexpectedly changed her fortunes. Through the World Bank-funded Commercialization and De-Risking for Agricultural Transformation (CDAT) project, those hills are being transformed into productive agricultural terraces, creating jobs and new sources of income for local residents.

ALSO READ: Farmers to access cheap loans under $300m agric project

Today, Tuyirangamire supervises a team of local workers constructing terraces along the rolling hills near her village.

"A supervisor earns Rwf3,000 a day. We work five days a week, and when you do the math, I earn around Rwf60,000 a month,” she said.

"As a student, I can now afford transport, buy stationery for assignments, pay for meals, and I even contribute Rwf15,000 at home.”

Her story reflects a wider transformation underway in rural communities where the project is being implemented. More than 70,000 households have benefited from employment created through terrace construction and other land husbandry activities.

Workers build radical terraces to reshape steep hills into flat steps suitable for intensive farming, while progressive terraces stabilise slopes gradually by reducing soil erosion and improving water retention.

So far, the two terrace types have rehabilitated more than 11,158 hectares of farmland, strengthening soil conservation and improving crop productivity.

"Farmers have recorded an increase in productivity in maize from 3.5 tonnes to 4.2 tonnes per hectare, and beans from 1.5 tonnes to 2 tonnes per hectare,” Hitimana said.

"These terraces are also helping to mitigate soil erosion. If farmers continue using high-potential seed varieties, we expect productivity to increase even further.”

He added that the project is now expanding its focus to support farmers with improved planting techniques, pest management, and the combined use of fertilisers and compost to sustain productivity gains.

For Mary Uwimana, a farmer in Muhanga District, the terraces have turned previously unproductive land into a reliable source of income.

"My land was very steep and suffered from heavy soil erosion,” she said. "But after terraces were built, the soil started absorbing more water. I added manure and harvested enough for my family and even sold produce worth Rwf50,000. It was the first time I had anything to sell at the market.”

The economic ripple effects are visible across many communities from buying land, open small trading shops and restaurants, others have purchased motorcycles and bicycles to support transport and local trading activities.

"My savings from working on terrace construction helped me buy a piece of land,” said Pangalasi, a resident of Nyaruguru District. "I purchased it for Rwf370,000.”

Farmlands are breathing again from restoration, but also rural livelihoods and agricultural commercialization, is shaped for sustainability.

Originally scheduled to end in April 2027 (it was launched in 2022), the project received an extension after the Government of Rwanda requested the World Bank to activate an additional $80 million that had previously been repurposed. The funding brings the total project budget to $300 million and extends implementation to February 2029.

Hitimana believes the extension will help the project achieve its full targets.

More land husbandry interventions are already planned for the next financial year, covering an additional 1,220 hectares to further boost agricultural productivity and resilience.

CDAT is a $300 million World Bank-funded initiative implemented by the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB) and the Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD) to boost agricultural productivity and commercialisation.