Climate smart agriculture: A lifesaving practice for humans and wildlife

To strengthen climate-resilient agriculture through cross-border collaboration between Rwanda and Uganda, Danida fellows organised climate-smart agricultural workshops on both sides of the border in July 2024. Climate journalist Diana Kibuuka spoke to the participating farmers, extension workers and veterinarians and reports on the impact of climate-smart agriculture on both humans and wildlife.

Diana Kibuuka

As farmers strive for higher yields from their farms and gardens, they face a dilemma between life and death. Valence Nsabimaana, an agronomist from Musanze District in Northern Rwanda, explains that despite farmers being aware of the harmful effects of using toxic chemical fertilisers, their eagerness for high food yields and fear of food insecurity make them susceptible to using dangerous pesticides and other harmful chemicals.

In Rwanda, we have a lot of people but not much land, so it is tough to produce enough food. To get bigger yields, farmers feel they have no choice but to use chemical fertilisers. These chemicals are bad because they ruin the soil and are dangerous to our health. Farmers often say, ‘It is better to die tomorrow from the effects of toxic fertilisers than to die today from hunger,’ Nsabimaana explains.

Balancing sustainability with immediate agricultural needs
Rwanda’s population is approximately 13.78 million (2022), occupying 26,336 km², of which 1.4 million hectares, or 52%, is arable land. Agriculture is the main economic activity in Rwanda, with 70% of the population engaged in the sector and around 72% of the working population employed directly in agriculture.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), low productivity levels for both crops and livestock are attributed to factors such as low input use, poor production techniques and inefficient farming practices.

Despite June to August being the dry season in Rwanda, where one would expect farmers to be harvesting and preparing their lands for planting, mid-September sees farmers harvesting Irish potatoes, one of the major food crops. They plant on the same land immediately after the harvest. When asked if this practice affects the next yield due to lack of land rest, farmers respond that they do not have enough land to practise fallowing and that they rely instead on chemical fertilisers and some organic manure from chicken, goat and cow dung for better yields.

In Musanze District in Northern Rwanda, farmers rely heavily on rain for their crops, unlike in the drier Bugeshera District in Eastern Rwanda, where the government has provided solar irrigation systems to support farmers during extreme dry seasons.

Nyirabimana Epiphanie, a 46-year-old farmer, explains that some farmers have started embracing climate-smart agriculture. However, they still face challenges in obtaining the right organic fertilisers and pesticides for their crops.

For pests like the ‘ten-legged insect’ that destroy bean seeds during planting, we have not found the right pesticide. We resort to handpicking them during planting, which is tiresome and unreliable, says Nyirabimana.

Nsabimaana and Sam Dusabe, an agricultural extension officer from Kisoro District in Uganda, bordering Rwanda, agree that obtaining the right organic pesticides is challenging. Farmers currently rely on a mix of tobacco leaves, red pepper, human urine and water to combat pests.

Wildlife conservation and agriculture
Sam Dusabe strongly discourages the use of toxic pesticides because they kill bees, crucial for plant pollination, and other beneficial insects and worms that maintain soil health.

What is harmful to one crop may be vital to another. Therefore, caution is necessary when choosing pesticides, he adds.

In Kisoro District in Uganda, farmers have regretted using chemical fertilisers over the past decade. Initially, these fertilisers boosted yields, but they have now made soils highly acidic and reduced crop production.

Before our soils became highly acidic from chemical fertilisers, one bag of Irish potatoes yielded 9-10 bags. Now, it yields only 2-3 bags. Our fear is that in the next 10 years, continued use of these fertilisers may render our once fertile volcanic soils useless, Dusabe explains and adds,

Farmers are now using lime to reduce soil acidity, but it is expensive.

Rwanda and Uganda share the Virunga-Mughahinga mountain gorillas, with Uganda having about 880 individuals. These gorillas are a major tourist attraction and an important part of the ecosystem. Gaspard Nzayisenga, a field veterinary doctor from Rwanda working in gorilla conservation, emphasises the need for mindful agricultural practices to protect wildlife. The improper use of agricultural inputs can harm both crops and animals.

If we teach farmers to adopt organic farming, it will save human lives and other living species. Harmful chemicals can kill bees, birds and other insects and contaminate water sources, affecting wildlife and human health. We need to embrace smart agricultural practices that support all life on Earth, explains Nzayisenga.

Long term food security
Dr Richard Kanyarukiga from the University of Rwanda’s College of Agriculture, Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine described climate-smart agriculture as one component of sustainable agriculture. To him, sustainability involves looking at everything holistically rather than in isolation.

About a decade ago, particularly in developing countries, the primary concern was food security – ensuring people had enough to eat. Dr Kanyarukiga notes that food security now encompasses nutrition, smart agricultural practices and food safety. Integrating all these elements is essential for achieving sustainable agriculture’s goals.

Workshop equipped 100 farmers with climate smart skills  
The cross border workshops in both Musanze and Kisoro on climate smart agriculture that attracted close to 100 participants, equipped farmers with knowledge and skills on how to prepare and use organic fertilizers and pesticides, prepare gardens for planting, using nitrogen fixing plants through intercropping, general soil management and bee farming importance of keeping bees.

In Kisoro, farmers appreciated the practical demonstrations they were taken through by Emmanuel Nshimye a commercial farmer and Peter Iraguha, on preparing Irish potatoes gardens and permanent gardens for vegetable growing.

The climate-smart agriculture cross-border workshops took place on 19 July in Musanze District in Rwanda and 23 July in Kisoro District in Uganda. They were organised by the Redrocks Initiative for Sustainable Development in collaboration with Nature Guardian Uganda and three Danida fellows, the journalists Gilbert Mwijuke, John Okot and Diana Kikuuka, who took part in Danida Fellowship Centre’s “Reporting from the African frontline of the global climate crisis” in 2022. Danida Fellowship Centre supported the workshops through a Danida Fellowship Centre’s network grant.

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