Cassava – An Exciting
New Market for Rwandan
Farmers
The Kinazi Cassava Plant, Dutch Agricultural
Development & Trading Company (DADTCO) and
IFDC are strengthening the cassava value chain in
Rwanda by bringing the factory to the farmer and
creating a guaranteed market. Kinazi and DADTCO
are introducing mobile units that process the
highly perishable roots close to growers. Farmers
can connect with financial institutions and access
high-quality planting materials through IFDC’s
CATALIST-2 project, funded by the Netherlands
Embassy in Rwanda and the Swiss Agency for
Development and Cooperation.
10,000
rice farmers in Kenya are
expected to benefit from a
partnership between IFDC
and ARM Mavuno to introduce
FDP. FDP is an improved
fertilization method that
can increase rice yields by
more than 15 percent.
IFDC is promoting FDP in 19
countries worldwide. ARM
Mavuno manu-factures urea
briquettes for deep placement
and supports farmer field days
and training.
International Training Highlights
Agricultural Market Data
“This training program has enlightened my way of thinking about
MIS and how beneficial it is to farmers’ profits and food security
achievement.” – participant in the IFDC workshop “Agricultural Market
Information Systems (MIS) and ICT Platforms Across the Value Chain.”
More than 60 trainees from 22 countries attended the five-day
program in Arusha, Tanzania. Held in collaboration with the Technical
Center for Agricultural
and Rural Cooperation
(CTA) and Eastern
Africa Grain Council
(EAGC), the workshop
emphasized the importance of agricultural
market data.
Twelve farmer organizations in Burundi have become
official maize suppliers for the FAMMAF plant, which
processes yellow maize flour. Before partnering with local
growers, FAMMAF imported maize from Uganda and
Tanzania. IFDC’s CATALIST-2 project facilitated the market
relationship and trained farmers to store their maize using
PIC bags, which keep the maize fresh and safe from insects
for up to three years. CATALIST-2 introduced farmers
to an “inventory credit system,” in which agricultural
commodities are stored until market prices increase. The
stored crops are used as collateral for loans from banks or
micro-finance institutions.
IFDC Magazine
14
Shape and Lead is an online
community (https://shapeandlead.
bidx.net/) connecting small and
medium enterprises, cooperatives,
financiers, mentors and coaches active
in the agricultural sectors of Rwanda,
Burundi and the North and South Kivu
provinces of the Democratic Republic
of Congo. Pictured above is Emmanuel
Musabyimana, an entrepreneur in potato
seed storage in Rwanda. Musabyimana
won an award for his innovation during
the Shape and Lead Agribusiness
Challenge 2014. Shape and Lead is an
initiative of the CATALIST-2 project and
Agri-ProFocus.