Farmers in Rwanda are seeking US $10million to rehabilitate irrigation facilities destroyed by floods in different years. Ignace Mugenzi, the president of Coproriz, a cooperative of rice growers in Mukunguri wetland, which that connects Kamonyi and Ruhango districts noted that last year floods damaged their irrigation system worth about US $2million.
“A part of the infrastructure has been rehabilitated but the main and crucial infrastructure is yet to be rehabilitated due to financial constraints. At least 2,198 farmers grouped under Coproriz lost 135 hectares of rice due to flooding. In total they lost 810 tonnes of potential rice harvest, which is equivalent to Rwf225.9 million based on the current market price. A kilogramme of unprocessed rice goes for Rwf279. They were expecting to harvest 1,500 tonnes.Over a half of the harvest was lost,” said Mugenzi.
Supply shortages of inputs
98% of the harvest from the cooperative is supplied to Mukunguri rice processing factory in the area. The farmers’ losses also affected the factory’s operations, which were halted due to the supply shortages of inputs. According to RAB, over 3,500 hectares were damaged by floods in May last year across the country. The report by the Ministry of Emergency indicated that 5,968.653 hectares of crops were damaged by floods throughout 2020.
Charles Bucagu, the Deputy Director General in charge of Agriculture Research and Technology Transfer at RAB noted that lack of sustainable source of funding has been the main barrier to rehabilitation of irrigation infrastructure affected by floods. He cited Bugarama marshland farmers in Rusizi District, Kamiranzovu marshland in Burera District and wetlands in Kamonyi District as the most affected.
