SMALL SCALE IRRIGATION PROJECT

Rwandan agriculture is mostly rain-fed, and therefore more exposed to weather-related risks, especially to severe, frequent, and prolonged dry spells occurring during the cropping seasons. Farmers in drought-prone areas lack the knowledge, skills, and the adequate infrastructure to cope with such harsh conditions, experiencing severe losses in agricultural production and household income.                            

The expansion of agricultural activities into more fragile environments such as steeper hill slopes and wetlands, as a response to increased food demand, has triggered land fragmentation and reduction of farm size. 

 Furthermore, in low rainfall areas, especially in the East of Rwanda, crops fail due to sub-optimal water-use efficiency requiring adequate technologies to soil and water conservation practices. The predominance of small-scale subsistence farming impacts economy at both household and national level. The small land size per household is insufficient for supporting household food needs throughout the year and for providing income-generating activities to its members. 

Farmers in drought-prone areas lack the knowledge, skills, and the adequate infrastructure to cope with such harsh conditions, experiencing severe losses in agricultural production and household income.

Land degradation has long been recognized as a major problem in Rwanda. 
Furthermore, in low rainfall areas, especially in the East, crops fail
due to sub-optimal water-use efficiency requiring adequate technologies
to soil and water conservation practices. The predominance of
small-scale subsistence farming impacts economy at both household and
national level. The small land size per household is insufficient for
supporting household food needs throughout the year and for providing
income-generating activities to its members.

The expansion of agricultural activities into more fragile environments such as steeper hill slopes and wetlands, as a response to increased food demand, has triggered land fragmentation and reduction of farm size, over exploitation of soil resources (nutrients), habitat loss, soil erosion and degradation

The Small scale irrigation is an important strategy in reducing risks associated with rainfall variability and increasing good nutrition and income of rural farm -households. It contributes to the overall livelihood improvement through increased income, food security, employment opportunity, social needs fulfillment and poverty reduction.  Small Scale irrigation is one of the promoted techniques to overcome Climate instability and increase production in Rwanda.  

The overall objective of this proposed project  is to promote sustainable agriculture in a Changing Climate and contribute to poverty reduction and environment protection

 The project will create livelihood opportunities for local communities living in proximity of MBARARA I Valley   in RWINKWAVU sector, KAYONZA  District . The implementation of the project in these areas will contribute to the issue of poverty reduction and income generation by increased legume productivity with a special focus on onions, peppers, water melon, tomatoes, ”  and peppers. Production increase will base irrigation system in order to fit with the national environment policy in Rwanda on aspects such as :

• The protection of river banks
• The protection of wetlands/marshland/valley
• The protection of  rivers

 The project will create livelihood opportunities for local communities living in proximity of MBARARA I Valley   in RWINKWAVU sector, KAYONZA  District . The implementation of the project in these areas will contribute to the issue of poverty reduction and income generation by increased legume productivity with a special focus on onions, peppers, water melon, tomatoes, ”  and peppers.

The project implementation process will target a number of outputs whose main will be:

• 80% increase in agricultural production and annual income of project beneficiaries
• 500  smallholder farmers identified and trained
• 20 hectares are prepared
• 20 hectares are irrigated
• 20-35% increase in  income from productivity of legumes

The project is relevant due to unreliable rainfall and prolonged droughts that make communities in RWINKWAVU sector unable to fully utilize their land for agricultural production. The mitigation impacts from the proposed project include the following:

• Promotion of the use of green technologies for agriculture.
• Increasing environment protection through tree planting.
• Increased awareness on climate change mitigation, and new agricultural technologies
• Promotion of  good nutrition
• Ensure food security

The project success will base on the applicant organization experience in the area and human resource expertise in the project field.

The overall objective of this proposed project is to promote sustainable agriculture, ensure food security, improve good nutrition and contribute to poverty reduction

• Enhancing farmers’ livelihoods through small scale irrigation, diversification of crops grown, as well as increased agricultural production, household income, employment opportunity and participation in community decisions making
• To combat the negative impacts of hunger  by increasing knowledge and developing capacity related to   food security  in  RWINKWAVU sector, KAYONZA  District
• To improve Household income through increasing smallholder crop production
• To monitor and evaluate progress, relevance, efficiency, effectiveness and sustain results of the project

Economic growth in Rwanda relies critically on agricultural growth, yet Rwanda’s agricultural sector faces critical constraints such as fragmentation, dependence on erratic rainfall, and challenging geography.

Small Scale Irrigation project is a unique flagship project of CCM that aims to transform valley production, increasing productivity in an environmentally sustainable manner. This project focuses on valley management of Mbarara in Rwinkwavu Sector, Kayonza  District, in Eastern Province of  Rwanda.

CCM is committed to eliminate Malnutrition until no Rwandan Child is malnourished in ending hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030.To ensure easy uptake and adoption of these technologies at farm level, CCM was in a process of training technical staff that are well versed with these technologies and who acts as trainer of trainers in technical dissemination. Technical experts have been deployed to work with and through the community members in the irrigation sector in the previous identification in Mbarara valley in Kayonza District

We will use Installation of the solar irrigation system and maintenance of the solar-powered

This system works in the sunlight. When sun shines the water pumping process is a sensible way of solar electric power utilization throughout the summer, as the water necessity is the highest. These pumps provide a reliable water source for plantation.

For water conservation we will making Construction of three dams (reservoirs) of water. Water taken from a river will be stored in those nearby reservoirs through solar pumps whose the system is installed near the river. The water stored will be  used later for irrigation and this will make possible to irrigate a large area of land while respecting the law of lake protection

Electrical appliances, such as irrigation systems and refrigeration,
could increase food production and reduce post-harvest losses - but
without electricity and adequate financing options these solutions
remain out of reach. Diesel-powered applications are used by some
mid-sized and larger off-grid farms, but these appliances are typically
not sized for small-scale farmers, and have other drawbacks including
high pollution levels and high recurring costs.

https://www.worldbank.org/en/n...

Involving beneficiary communities in project design and implementation as well as monitoring progress ensures ownership which further guarantees the sustainability of the project. The beneficiaries are required to develop and implement maintenance plans for the infrastructure provided by the project and being managed and operated by them. The maintenance plans will be funded from their contributions and these would be managed by autonomous units having received the required training from the project.  

The objective of the project is not only to increase food production but also to improve access to food through improved production of high value crops. It is believed that when farmers get the additional incomes from sale of produce, they become encouraged to sustain the project. The financial returns to the households coupled with the attainment of food security will contribute to sustained interest in the project. The project has been designed in such a way that the commitments of the beneficiaries are obtained from the outset, thus fostering a sense of ownership.  

The fact that farmers will assume ownership and responsibility of the irrigation infrastructure at the various schemes after construction, and will thus bear the responsibility will further sustain flow of project benefits. As irrigation pays for itself and then some, we hope to use micro-financing to allow farmers to gradually pay for their Pumps which will encourage them to take ownership of their systems, while also allowing us to continue to spread the pump to more people without continued major  efforts in seeking funding among donors.  

The beneficiaries will also be prepared to be responsible for scheme operation and maintenance of the new irrigation system. Indeed, project ownership by the beneficiaries and the local authorities is extremely critical for sustainability.

The project implementation process will target a number of outputs whose main will be:

• 80% increase in agricultural production and annual income of project beneficiaries
• 500  smallholder farmers identified and trained in 1st year
• 20 hectares are prepared
• 20 hectares are irrigated
• 20-45% increase in  income from productivity of legumes The project is relevant due to unreliable rainfall and prolonged droughts that make communities in RWINKWAVU sector unable to fully utilize their land for agricultural production.

In second year the beneficiaries will be 1500 from other valleys of this zone.

because of big and good harvest and cheap investment, in five years all valleys of Kayonza district shall use small scale irrigation with solar system as 15300 farmers. 

In general Our organization (CCM) has vision and plan of 30 years from 2012 to 2042. just now we are in phase three

2020 <-> 2030 Investing in Socio Economic activities
(as Commerce, Agriculture, cattle …..). Investing
in intellectual Economic Activities (as Schools, Training centers,
Hospitals ….). https://ccmorozainkwavu.com/ev...

For this reason our wish is community empowerment and development; especially the beneficiaries of small scale irrigation project, we are here to develop farmers' mindset for making production without rainfall.

Making farmers and leaders understand that they should not plant their crops in less than 50 meters from water in order to protect these water bodies, is the major risk that this project is likely to face. The lack of farmers willing to adopt new technology and the lack of willingness of local authorities, partners and stakeholders to collaborate could be other risks to successful implementation of the project.  Last and not least, market assurance on the important production may lead to possible losses as learnt from past experience.

Facing such possible risks in the project success, we intend to take mitigation measures as follows:

.Resistance of beneficiaries to cultivate beyond 50 meters from the liver:

Involvement of local authorities and security organs in training farmers on agricultural policies in valleys.

.Low involvement of local authorities: Fair collaboration with district and sector JADF Forums to integrate the project in performance contracts.

.Crop degradation due to lack of markets: Market negotiation during the process in high purchase power clients such as hotels; partnership with NAEB.

13 Staffs (Full-time 3, Part-time 3, Consultant 2 and 5 volunteers)

With the previous initiatives, we have learnt about the sustainability of the project. Because trained volunteers of the project is now the source of inspiring the continuity of the project in the project area after its official closure.

We want this proposed project to be based on Small Scale Irrigation Project In Rwinkwavu Sector,  Mbarara Barrage Vally   In Kayonza District With the previous experience, because the project will be based in rural area, we shall be able to work gently with local authorities, good management of the project and monitoring and follow up of the project activities will be nicely conducted. We want this proposed project to be sustainable after the end of its duration. We want also this project to be innovative especially in setting up improved agriculture which will introduce new techniques of saving our environment.

ABOUT STAFFS:

- NYIRANSENGIMANA Ernestine A0 in project management: Project manager

- NDARUHUTSE Alfreud A0 in accountancy : Accountant

- KALISA BENJAMIN A1 IN Rural Development Agribusiness : Agronomy

- MUTABARUKA Frank A0 in Nutrition and dietetics: Nutritionist

The feasibility studies revealed that most of the existing smallholder irrigation schemes were developed using a top-down approach with limited farmer participation. Based on these lessons, the Small-scale Irrigation Project has promoted the involvement of farmers from the onset, during planning, design and implementation.

The importance of effective stakeholder and community engagement in the planning and implementation of the project necessitates an understanding of dealing with host communities and key stakeholders, particularly those who represent a perceived threat to the project. Not involving communities in the project could have serious long-term negative impacts on a community’s economic, environmental and social outcomes. That is why the project will establish regular dialogues and build strong and genuine relationships with local communities and other stakeholders.

A variety of communicating methods will be used to help stakeholders properly understand the project and a variety of consultation methods will be adopted including  one to one consultations,  Meetings, Focus group discussions, Printed materials, etc

In summary, the project will have three major partners as follow:

-Solver teams

- Local authority

- And RAB(Rwanda Agriculture Board)

CCM is committed to eliminate Malnutrition until no Rwandan Child is malnourished in ending hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030.To ensure easy uptake and adoption of these technologies at farm level, CCM was in a process of training technical staff that are well versed with these technologies and who acts as trainer of trainers in technical dissemination. Technical experts have been deployed to work with and through the community members in the irrigation sector in the previous identification in Mbarara valley in Kayonza District .

SOLVE strengthen civil society organizations, Innovators and entrepreneurs, wherever they are in the world, can submit their solution to Challenges hosted on Salve’s platform using a user-friendly interface that encourages user participation beyond solution submission in the form of community commenting, voting, and editing solutions. We are very pleased to work with SOLVE because with its assistance we shall be able to improve living conditions of marginalized and vulnerable groups and get high level of food sustainability through small scale irrigation.

Our business model is committed to eliminate Malnutrition until no Rwandan Child is malnourished in ending hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030.To ensure easy uptake and adoption of these technologies at farm level, we need funding or revenue from SOLVE. We believe that many head much idea from different advisors, so field visit, monitoring and evaluation bring full answers.

The various stakeholders in the project are composed by MINAGRI / RAB which will play a key role in technical support, KAYONZA District and RWINKWAVU Sector, which will intervene in the validation of beneficiaries.