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USAID Launches Hinga Weze – A New 28 Billion Rwf Agricultural Growth Project – in Nyamata
NYAMATA, Rwanda—On April 26, 2018, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched a new $32 million (28 Billion RWF) project to support agricultural growth and resiliency across Rwanda. The project, called the Feed the Future Rwanda Hinga Weze activity, will be implemented over five years in 10 districts across Rwanda.
Hinga Weze will work directly with over 200,000 farmers. The activity will help them grow at least 50 percent more crops on the same amount of land by promoting sustainable use of fertilizers, improved seeds, watering practices, and more. With more crops per hectare, farmers will have more money and greater food security.
Hinga Weze will also provide pest management training to help farmers combat the invasive Fall Armyworm (FAW) pest. The activity will also bolster the resilience of Rwanda’s agricultural sector to a changing climate. By the end of the activity, over 600 new hectares of farmland will be fitted with new irrigation infrastructure.
The new USAID-funded activity will also improve the nutrition of hundreds of thousands of pregnant women and young children across Rwanda who are vulnerable to stunting. That’s because Hinga Weze will partially focus on the cultivation of highly nutritious foods, such as orange-fleshed sweet potatoes and high-iron beans, and will train families and communities on preparing nutritious meals.
The activity launch in Bugasera District was attended by the U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda, Peter Vrooman, the Minister of State in Charge of Agriculture, Fulgence Nsengiyumva, other Government of Rwanda representatives, agribusinesses, farmers, and others.
The main guests participated in a feeding session for children together with nutrition health workers after taking part in the symbolic unveiling of the five value chains supported by Hinga Weze: maize, high-iron beans, Irish potatoes, orange-fleshed beans, and horticulture. The guests later toured an exhibition of farm input and post-harvest handling equipment and biproducts displayed by agrodealers, agroimporters, and other Hinga Weze partners.
In a call-to-action message, Vrooman urged Hinga Weze to provide a lasting solution to farmers, highlighting FAW as a major threat to agriculture productivity. His words came after the main guests were guided through a demonstration on how to identify FAW pests. Hinga Weze will provide pest management training as part of the campaign to combat the invasive pest. So far Hinga Weze has already identified about 365 hectares affected by FAW in its districts of interventions.
Hinga Weze will be implemented in the following 10 districts: Gatsibo, Kayonza, Bugesera, Ngoma, Nyabihu, Rutsiro, Ngororero, Nyamasheke, Karongi, and Nyamagabe.
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The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the foreign assistance agency of the United States Government. USAID supports $129 million of development assistance annually to Rwanda, with programs in health, economic development, education, and democracy and governance.