WHEN EMMANUEL UWITIJE acquired a loan of Rwf22 million that he invested in intensive modern cassava farming, he was optimistic to make profits.

Unknown to him was the fact that he was rather heading to a huge loss–a loss which was caused by factors over which he had no control.

As the Ruhango-based commercial farmer started counting months before harvest time for his cassava plantation that stretched on a plot of 13 hectares, Uwitije got bad news: a deadly disease had attacked his farm.

He knew he was headed for a major loss and that is how he will remembers the year 2014.

Uwitije was not alone in the predicament. Strains of the deadly Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CSBD), locally known as Kabore, were found in almost all cassava fields in the districts of Ruhango and Kamonyi and parts of Nyanza District, which were the worst hit.

CBSD is a devastating disease that causes poor cassava root (tuber) production and rotting of the tubers, rendering the cassava inedible.

At the time, figures suggested that about 90 per cent of the total cassava plantations in the three districts were affected. And while there are no available figures on the financial loss caused by the virus, it is clear that the cost amounts to hundreds of millions of francs.

More districts have reported the outbreak but at a lower scale.

As the virus was found to be widespread, it became clear that cassava production–a major food and income crop–was inevitably going to drop considerably.

In late September, Prime Minister Anastase Murekezi visited cassava farmers in Ruhango and pledged that the government would not let them down.

He also said efforts were being made to not only contain the spread of the disease but also get new disease-free and disease-resistant tuber varieties to be distributed to farmers.

Rwanda Development Bank (BRD), the guarantor of the loans for the majority of the farmers, also agreed to extend by between six and 12 months the period they had to service the loans.

Farmers are expecting to get the new varieties early next year but their hopes of recovering from the huge losses caused by the disease are minimal.

"The impact remains big,” said Uwitije. "Some lost their entire plantations to the disease and that brought huge losses and meant their lives went downward.”

Uwitije said the measures already in place, including availing new varieties and extending the period of servicing loans, could help mitigate the impact of the disease.

"Bank interests continue to accumulate and that is a big burden for farmers. I wish they [the bank] could extend the repayment period to at least five years and lower their interest rates,” Uwitije said, noting that "indeed the loss was a result of a bad variety that we were given by a competent authority.”

But the cassava was not the only crop that was devastated in 2014.

The Banana Xanthomonas Wilt, a deadly bacterial disease, commonly known as ‘Kirabiranya’, affected hundreds of hectares of banana in Eastern Province leaving farmers counting losses.

Maize farmers in Burera, Nyabihu and Rubavu districts, too, found themselves on the receiving end of losses accrued from the lethal necrotic disease.

The impact of the crop diseases was altogether huge. And, of course, you wouldn’t forget the already existent negative impacts of the unpredictable weather patterns which weighed heavily down on the sector.

Just to take an example, a total of 1,183 hectares of crops were washed away by disasters, mainly heavy rains in parts of the country that caused floods, landslides or droughts between January and September, according to official figures.

Many families were affected.

President Paul Kagame last week spoke of the envisaged solution toward addressing the challenges associated with climatic changes and crop diseases in order to protect one of the key economic sectors of the country.

"We are taking steps to reduce dependence on rainfall, by deploying more irrigation infrastructure across the country,” the President said at the opening of the recent Twelfth National Dialogue (Umushyikirano).

"We are also investing in new research to prevent diseases, such as the one currently affecting cassava farmers across the country,” the Head of State added.

Critical sector

Agriculture remains an important sector for the country’s economy, accounting for one-third of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

It is estimated that about 80 per cent of Rwanda’s 11 million people live on agriculture, figures that clearly show how important the sector is for the nation.

"Most Rwandans earn their living from agriculture, where we have seen steady improvements,” President Kagame said during the State of the Nation Address delivered at the opening of Umushyikirano.

"This sector grew by 6 per cent over last year,” he announced.

The entire national economy grew by 7.8 per cent during the third quarter of the year and agriculture alone contributed 1.8 percentage points to the growth, the Head of State said.

"Rwandan farmers not only feed the nation, but also export to neighbouring countries. I wish to thank them for their hard work, and active participation in programmes aimed at modernising the sector,” Kagame said, praising local farmers.

The government has been pushing for further improvements in productivity and building resilience to the changing weather patterns and crop diseases.

This include the use of disease-resistant and high-production crop varieties as well as exploiting available technologies, techniques and best practices to ensure a high agriculture production and limit the sector’s vulnerability.

Among the areas where the government is putting more efforts is encouraging farmers to adopt irrigation as a measure that would ensure high and constant productivity and make agriculture ‘weather-proof’ – meaning farming can go on whether it rains or not.

Rwanda is targeting to have reached 100,000 hectares of agriculture land under irrigation by 2017 from the current 30,000 hectares.

Already, the government is subsidising the export of irrigation equipment, in a move that officials said seeks to enhance food production. And efforts are also being made to encourage small-scale irrigation technologies, with the government running another subsidy scheme for farmers wishing to start irrigation in their fields.

Besides, officials are also working to promote best farming practices and modern techniques including land consolidation, crop intensification, use of fertilisers and quality seeds, among others, towards modernising agriculture and the transformation from the traditional subsistence farming to commercial agriculture.

It is expected that all these efforts would have, as a result, the reduction of losses that farmers incur due to the unpredictable weather patterns, reduction of their dependency on rain-fed farming, increased production and ensure food security.

On a close examination of the situation, one gets a picture of a sector that is developing despite the many challenges faced. But as farmers continue to be encouraged to adopt modern farming techniques to achieve higher yields, the attention could then be turned to markets.

More efforts are then needed to encourage the processing of agriculture products for value addition, more markets and more income.