MUHANGA - Farmers have finalized plans to plant 1,500 hectares of maize as the rainy season kicks off. Following the end of a long dry spell, farmers who spoke to The New Times say that with the onset of the rainy season, they are now ready to start planting the variety of maize crop which was selected as being suitable for Muhanga district.

The district projects to plant over 1,500 hectares of maize during the season and the government will subsidise farm inputs for farmers, including fertilisers.

"The delayed rains have caused a setback at the start of the season, and the dry spell affected most of the food crops and livestock production especially the quantity of milk,” one farmer, Felicien Ndahimana said.

The rainy season normally starts in mid-August. However, this time it started in  September. A meeting of climate experts, held in Muhanga district, last month, noted issues of environmental protection need to be addressed so as to combat the effects of climate change in the southern province.

John Walter Gakumba, the Nile Basin Discourse Forum (NBDF) coordinator, said that changes in the climate system had affected the province in recent times. There is a need for stakeholders to sensitise residents on how to combat environmental degradation.

An official of an NGO that deals with climate change issues known as the Climatic Change and Development-Adaptation by Reducing Vulnerability (CC-DARE) programme, Bubu Jallow, however, commended Rwanda’s efforts to remove barriers and create opportunities for integrating climate change adaptation.

Ends