{"id":5286,"date":"2026-11-13T09:37:36","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T09:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/?p=5286"},"modified":"2026-11-13T09:37:36","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T09:37:36","slug":"rwanda-seeks-to-scale-up-conservation-agriculture-as-soil-erosion-threatens-farmland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/13\/rwanda-seeks-to-scale-up-conservation-agriculture-as-soil-erosion-threatens-farmland\/politics\/national\/","title":{"rendered":"Rwanda seeks to scale up conservation agriculture as soil erosion threatens farmland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rwanda is seeking to expand conservation agriculture as farmers and agricultural experts warn that soil erosion, land degradation and changing weather conditions continue to threaten agricultural production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The approach, which involves minimising soil disturbance, keeping farmland covered and rotating crops, is being promoted as one way to protect soil while improving productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a meeting held at the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture (RICA) on Thursday, November 12, about 450 farmers, researchers, government officials, private-sector representatives and development partners discussed how to extend the practices beyond demonstration projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farmers who have adopted the approach shared examples of increased yields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nyirambonimpa Saidat, a farmer from Kirehe District trained by RICA, said she previously harvested 30 kilogrammes of maize and 20 kilogrammes of beans from five ares of land using traditional cultivation methods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After switching to conservation agriculture, she said the same plot produced up to 300 kilogrammes of maize and 280 kilogrammes of beans when weather conditions were favourable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

She attributed the improvement to practices such as avoiding deep digging, making planting holes and covering the soil with crop residues to retain moisture and limit erosion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuyizere Emmanuel, another farmer trained by RICA, said his maize harvest increased from about 25 kilogrammes to more than 70 kilogrammes per are after adopting mulching and applying organic and inorganic fertilisers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RICA president Momar Dieng said the need for more sustainable farming methods was underscored by the scale of soil erosion in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citing Rwanda\u2019s 2025 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0), he said more than one million hectares were at high risk of erosion, while an average of 25 tonnes of topsoil was lost annually per hectare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said conservation agriculture could help address the problem through three main practices: reducing soil disturbance, maintaining soil cover and rotating crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dieng called for the approach to be integrated into national agricultural programmes and policies, backed by investment, research and continuous training for farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State Minister for Agriculture and Animal Resources Dr Olivier Kamana said wider adoption would depend on farmers\u2019 access to equipment, agricultural inputs, financing, technical knowledge and markets, particularly among smallholders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He urged government institutions, development partners, financial institutions and private businesses to work together to remove those barriers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kamana also called for greater involvement of young people through technology, mechanisation and agribusiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said progress should be assessed not simply by the number of meetings held or farmers trained, but by how many farmers adopt the practices, protect their land and achieve more sustainable harvests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rwanda is seeking to expand conservation agriculture as farmers and agricultural experts warn that soil erosion, land degradation and changing weather conditions continue to threaten […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,43,34,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-current_affairs","category-national","category-top_stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5286"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5289,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5286\/revisions\/5289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}