Mutendeli: working on better farming through Field School program

Farmers of Mutendeli sector in Ngoma district are following up lessons to professional farming through the new Famer Fields’ School program locally known as “Ishuri ry’Abahinzi mu murima” that has changed their out look to farming and helped them improve their ways of farming.

The FFS in progress

Following the farming methods applied in the farms, these farmers have changed their traditional methods of farming and adopted the new ways and increased their productions.

Vestine Mukamwezi a widow farmer says before attending such trainings on modern farming that is done while farming, she never even once produced the anticipated produce. “But with the maize farming I now do, I get enough to support my family and pay for my children’s school fees.”

“I never produced more than 20Kgs of maize that I planted season after season but now I produced about 300Kgs which was an achievement.”

This new program is proving wrong traditional farmers over farmers who adapted new methods of farming and are producing more crop harvest.

Elisewusi Musanganya a farmer participating in this new program says he missed out a lot for not knowing of this training long time ago. “I delayed in adapting to the modern methods of farming saying it is so complicated but now I realize I was so wrong. People who started with it farm and produce a lot while I produce only for consumption. That is the reason I want to learn now.”

This new program of training farmers in their farmers was initiated by Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB). Farmers are brought together in one farm and taught new methods of farming and how to use fertilizers for more productivity.

RAB workers and many farmers were trained in almost all sectors who in turn train other farmers in famer fields school (FFS). Mutendeli sector has many associations of maize growers that are doing so well in their farming and producing tons and tons of maize.

Mutendeli: working on better farming through Field School program