Farmers who were affected by severe floods in the Agricultural Season B which was concluded last month are seeking revival in planting vegetables and sweet potatoes rich in Vitamin A under 2020 Agricultural season C that was launched on June 9, 2020. At least over 6,000 hectares of crops were destroyed by floods, landslides, and storms under Season B according to figures from Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board. GIMACO cooperative that grows different crops in Rwangingo wetland in Gatsibo district is one of the affected cooperatives whose six hectares of Soya beans were ravaged by recent floods at the time when COVID-19 pandemic was affecting businesses with only agricultural activities remaining essential. “The whole wetland of six hectares with soya bean was submerged by floods. We were supposed to harvest over six tonnes of soya beans but only 200 Kilogrammes were harvested. We were worried since we can’t manage to get other seeds without financial support from the government,” Emmanuel Niyigena, the president of the cooperative said. He also revealed that they didn’t have insurance for their crops since soybeans were not one of the crops to benefit from the subsidized agriculture insurance scheme. Only maize and rice farmers benefit from the insurance scheme which has 56,868 farmers only yet 70 percent of Rwandans are in the Agriculture sector according to figures from MINAGRI. He added that they were also planning to buy more irrigation equipment including one irrigation pumping machine they have but such losses derailed their plans. “We have to plant vegetable seeds and sweet potato vines in season C because those are crops which take a short period to grow but the other challenge is that we use only one irrigation pumping machine which is not enough,” he said. Niyigena noted that sweet potato vines rich in Vitamin A will be planted on four hectares while vegetables namely carrots, cabbages, and onions will be planted on two hectares in Rwangingo wetland. Ernest Nsigayehe, the Director of agriculture in Gatsibo district said that in partnership with Hingaweze project, they have distributed free seeds to farmers who had been affected by disasters. “In collaboration with Hingaweze project, we have distributed sweet potato vines and vegetable seeds to farmers so that they exploit wetlands and recover from losses they incurred before”. He noted that vegetables, fruits and sweet potatoes to be focused on in Season C, will be planted on 551 hectares in the district. “This is to ensure food security and fight malnutrition. Sweet potato vines rich in Vitamin A will be grown on 108 hectares while vegetables will be planted on the remaining part,” he noted. Under Agricultural Season C, about 20,000 hectares are expected to be tilled especially for vegetables and sweet potatoes across the whole country. He added that at least 200 subsidized irrigation machines have been distributed. However, he said they are carrying out advocacy so that subsidized agriculture insurance schemes can be extended to more crops to avoid losses for disasters. Marion Nirere Mulindwa, the Single project implementation unit coordinator at the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources said they are going to work with insurance companies to cover more crops beyond maize and rice. For crop insurance, Irish potatoes, beans, soybeans, bananas, cassava and horticulture crops among others are the new value chains to consider, she said.
