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Growing Food in a Changing Climate

In an evermore vulnerable world, Rwanda's agriculture is adapting.

By Photo Stories

December 2^nd, 2015

Between food and flood

Today, three out of four Rwandans farm for a living. In this tiny, landlocked, sub-Saharan country, you will find more people per square mile than anywhere on the continent - and more even than in densely populated industrial countries like Belgium and The Netherlands. As a result, almost every inch of this beautiful country seems to be covered in crops or cattle.

Fields of maize, cassava, coffee, and tea will greet you in the mountainous North-West. In the East and South, grazing cattle, fishery farms, and yet more crops compete for space. Even on the edge of the nation’s capital of Kigali, banana trees and goats abound within the suburban landscape. Everywhere you are reminded of the richness of the Rwandan soil. Yet like many countries in Africa, many of its subsistence farming citizens remain malnourished.

As the world’s leaders are meeting in Paris to discuss climate change, Rwandan farmers, like small landholders across the globe, are living with the impact of global warming every day.

One of the Nile-Congo crest watersheds in Rurembo sector, Nyabihu, at normal water levels.

Floods cover the fields with muddy water in 2012, threatening lives and destroying livelihoods.

Many villages and towns between Gishwati Forest and Nyabihu district are coping with problems of soil erosion, landslides, flooding, and forced relocation. When communities are deeply dependent on the land to survive, such natural disasters uproot more than just crops.

As a response to these increasing vulnerabilities, the Rwandan government has recognized the importance of local economic empowerment, early warning and disaster preparedness systems, and agricultural adaptation.

Families forced to relocate from the Gishwati forest were organized into mushroom-growing cooperatives

Farmers forced to evacuate from the forest received funding to start a local mushroom-growing cooperative. By harvesting and selling mushrooms locally, the cooperative was able to make new investments and expand their agricultural enterprises. Alice Abimana was able to receive computer skills training from the profits of selling her mushrooms.

In Jaba, relocated people who had to evacuate the forest were able to set up an industrial poultry operation thanks to a loan from UNDP. It might seem like a small project, but the ability to set up a sustainable business has enriched the community. Unfortunately, communities like these which have relied on soil-intensive, unprofitable crop agriculture for generations simply don’t have the funds to afford the kind of transformative change which is becoming more and more important.

radical terrace farming

Across the country, ambitious agricultural transformation is taking place in the form of radical terraces. The steep hills of Rwanda might seem unsuitable to intensive farming, and prone to severe soil erosion. However, thanks to the volcanic ashes deposited in the hills of Nyabihu, the area is famous for its fertility and huge potential for high agricultural yields.

Until recently, most farmers in Nyabihu grew their crops without coordination. Haphazard planting of unsuitable crops on steep hillsides not only led to unfulfilled agricultural potential - it also increased the risk of soil erosion, flooding, and destroyed harvests and livelihoods. By organizing the community to construct radical terraces, crop yields also increased radically and Nyabihu has become a safer and more prosperous place.

Deep trenches are dug on the steep hillsides, to allow the excess rainwater to run off without damaging the structural integrity of the soil or contributing to erosion. This way, the crops receive the right amount of water and nutrients, and the entire area has a lower risk of landslides and flooding.

Without similar efforts at designing soil conservation mechanisms, the risks of climate-change induced disasters will continue to increase. An analysis of Rwandan climate data shows that the period between 1991 and 2000 has been the driest since 1961 and has shown a marked rainfall deficit in multiple years.

Rainy seasons have become shortened, while extreme phenomena (droughts and floods, the latter leading to severe soil erosion and even landslides) have increased. Projected future climate changes follow a similar, but more intense path.

As even the most optimistic observers and analysts of current and past Climate Change Conferences project that any efforts to limit climate change at the global level will show small and delayed results at slowing down the ongoing climate change, other vulnerable countries will have to continue to follow Rwanda down the path of adaptation and mitigation.

As farming improvements have demonstrated, efforts at reducing vulnerability also have the potential of improving local economies. The need for investment and development in agricultural improvement is now greater than ever.

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