July 2024
Rwandan Farmer Thrives with Improved Potato Seed Production
By Martin MUGENGA (SPF), Theophile NDACYAYISENGA (RAB) and Joshua OKONYA (ASARECA) Mr. Isaac Nzabarinda is a 62-year-old lifelong farmer and a married man with nine adult children in Rugi village, Musanze, Rwanda. He shares his journey of renewed success in producing disease-free potato seed. Growing up on a farm, he actively...
Strengthening capacities of women and youth to adopt technologies and access markets
Youth benefiting from the AIRTEA Project in Rwanda. By Ben Ilakut; Joshua Okonya; Genevieve Apio Despite the existence of private sector-led multi-stakeholder partnerships for public research institutions, academia, policymakers and civil society in bringing about sustainable transformative change in AR4D, the extent of impact on the ground leaves a lot...
From 1 to 3 tons: How Certified Seed Transformed Rwandan Farmers’ Potato Harvest
By Ambrose Aheisibwe (SDGC/A), Aloys Musabyisoni (RAB) and Joshua Okonya (ASARECA) My name is Faustin Ntankazarimana, and I chair the Haguka Mudende Innovation Platform (IP) in Mudende, Rubavu district, Rwanda. In 2022, our platform faced challenges, with sporadic meetings and dwindling membership. Members rarely met, and as a result, some had...
April 2024
How ASARECA, FARA & EAAF are supporting farmers to access life changing innovations via Community Dairy Innovation Centers
By Genevieve Apio Co-Authored by Mr. Karemire Shawn Rwakoojo (CBO), FARA, EAFF. Through a jointly coordinated project commonly referred to as AIRTEA,...
January 2024
How pumpkins have stabilized Nalongo’s household income
Ms. Nakiwala Saniya Nalongo, 60, from Bubanzi village,Nsambya Parish, Kakindu sub-county, Mityana district, has been widowed for 13-years. She got interested in pumpkin farming as a business when she learnt that Mr. Magezi, the chairperson of an organised group, St. Joseph’s farmers group, had registered some successes in pumpkin farming. The...
November 2023
Facilitating transfer of wheat varieties to Cameroon
ASARECA received a request from the Director General of Institut de Recherche Agricole pour le Développement (IRAD) in July 2022 to support the Institute to source bread wheat genotypes from ASARECA member countries for testing in Cameroon agro-ecologies in order to identify the best performing lines. The Cameroonian Government had just...
Ugandan youth group takes Tropical Agriculture Platform Common Framework to local communities
Participants during a training session at Spark Uganda, a youth empowerment facility near Kampala GENEVIEVE APIO Upon returning to his home country—Uganda, Allan Ahimbisibwe, a beneficiary of the training of Trainers (ToT) on integration of the Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP) Common Framework (CF) into NARIs and farmer organisations, incorporated lessons learnt in...
Mrs. Kishero speaks of the benefits of ASARECA training
Mrs. Olivia Kishero from Uganda put into use what she learnt from the benchmarking exercise in Arusha, Tanzania BY GENEVIEVE APIO AND BEN MOSES ILAKUT Born on the slopes of Mountain Elgon in Uganda, Mrs. Olivia Kishero started growing coffee as a child in 1990. In July 2022, ASARECA, with financing...