NYABIHU - Nyabihu District leaders have embarked on a campaign to encourage people to shift from substance farming to commercial agriculture,.

The call was made during the launch of the new agricultural season that aims at boosting agricultural production in the area.

Although over 80 percent of Rwandans depend on subsistence farming, just a small fraction practice commercialised farming.

"The priority crops that we produce in our district are maize, beans and Irish potatoes. We expect to see an increase in production and feed the markets in this region,” said Angel Mukaminani, the Vice Mayor in charge of Economic Development.

She said that the high production would be realised through the use of fertilisers, application of pesticides and modern farming methods such as terracing to control erosion.

In order to keep produce safe and for a long time, the district put up granaries to store farmers’ harvest before this is purchased.

"Last season, people supplied markets, especially with potatoes, but this year, a lot must be done with other produce which didn’t perform well,” Mukaminani added.

Livestock is also being encouraged with over 30,000 families owning at least a cow through the ‘Girinka’ program. 500 more families are expected to benefit from the cattle stocking program in the next few months.

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