In 1993, 23-year-old Ephron Bizumuremyi set forth to look for odd jobs on people’s farms in Ntyazo area of the current Nyanza District. He was eager to end his destitute life growing up, which he endured in the then Gikongoro Prefecture.

Bizumuremyi would make Rwf70 per day from menial jobs. He was still youthful and newly-wed but he gave up anything like pride to put bread on the table.

At the time, the Gikongoro Prefecture was stricken by severe hunger.

In October 1994, Bizumuremyi started a milk retail business with Rwf360, with which he bought five litres of milk that he used to sell and get Rwf50 profit per litre.

He would keep to that milkman job for a decade, and by 2007, Bizumuremyi was able to buy cows followed shortly by a plot of land on which he constructed a Rwf4 million house.

Today, 44-year-old Bizumuremyi from Cyanika Sector makes Rwf60,000 in profit per month from his business that has grown to include seven pigs as he continues to look to the brighter side of life, hoping that the sector leadership will help him get a good market for pork.

"My business development is 90 per cent facilitated by the security in our country and the good leadership that safeguard the sovereignty of the country, promotes and protects the rights of all Rwandans and empowers them to work hard and support vulnerable families,” Bizumuremyi said.

"Before, we were worried about the safety of property but now we are confident in the security of our country and we are saving with banks,” he said.

The youth who roamed the villages for a menial job 22 years ago can today look back with a smile. Today, he easily pays school fees for his two elder children in secondary school.

From hunger to food basket

Like many other citizens of Nyamagabe, Bizumuremyi  recalls that the former Gikongoro Prefecture was once prone to hunger, which made many residents head to DR Congo for survival.

The Gikongoro Prefecture was nicknamed ‘Gikongoro of Abatebo’ (literally meaning ‘people who lived on making baskets’) from the odd activity the locals were renowned for – they made baskets that they carried to far-flung areas to get customers.

Yet the area has been transformed from being derided as Gikongoro of Abatebo and embraced a new identity as ‘Nyamagabe of the Très Bons’ (French for the ‘Very Beautiful.’)

Jeannette Mukankundiye, a resident of Gasaka Sector, said after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Rwandans, mainly women, got empowered to do business to achieve self-reliance.

"We plant such crops as tomatoes and eggplants, and manage to buy nutritious food for our children.

"President Kagame’s leadership has been characterised by a dedicated effort to fight hunger. Kwashiorkor is now history, I mean, it’s a very rare disease today,” she said.

Evariste Nsabimana, a motorcyclist from Cyanika Sector, who was seven years ago a house help  in Kigali earning Rwf4,000 per month, believes the transformation of his home district has been fast.

"I own a motorcycle and I get at least Rwf100,000 per month thanks to a country that observes the rights of every citizen and encourages them to work for self-reliance. I also engage in farming activities. Our area is no longer the starving Gikongoro, it is Nyamagabe that is registering quick development,” said the father of one.

The case for infertile soil

Nyamagabe residents and leaders contend that the area was once ravaged by hunger mainly because it had infertile soils and leadership that did not prioritise policies intended to improve the welfare of its people.

Immaculée Umuhoza Mukarwego, the district vice mayor for finance and economic development, said: "It was a pity having people dying of hunger, but the bad leadership of the time is to blame because the priority of the time was not to help people to develop rather than propagating bad ideology and divisionism,” she said.

"We should all support good leadership because it thinks about the development and welfare of the citizen. It is obvious that after the Genocide, the good leadership that promoted the unity of Rwandans so that they live in harmony, and the inclusive-planning for solution to common problems is what has brought us this far.”

Umuhoza said people had lost interest in farming but now they have embraced agriculture, thanks to friendly policies.

"Agriculture was ascerbic to the ears of the people because they were worried about the soil as they could not get a harvest. But today the soil has been made use of as there is tea being grown on it. The government is also helping people through giving them improved seeds, fertilisers, among others,” Mukarwego said.

She said the district now exports more than 370 tonnes of coffee and harvest a minimum of 30 tonnes of potatoes per hectare.

Soaring in production

Nyamagabe is renowned for its top quality tea, mainly grown in Kitabi. It has a zone that grows wheat, maize, potatoes and tea and another that grows beans, cassava and coffee.

The district also has a wheat processing plant in Tare Sector. Mukarwego said that, during the last financial year, the district grew wheat on over 9,000 hectares of land and that this financial year, they plan to increase acreage to 10,000 with a target of four tonnes per hectare.

Mukarwego said this year, there is a subsidy in lime to further tackle the issue of infertile soil in the district, whereby 6,000 tonnes of lime will be distributed to farmers.

She said the lime was promised by the President when he visited Nyamagabe in 2012 as a solution to infertile steep hills that are prone to soil erosion.

"Since then, over 1,000 terraces have been made by the district in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture,” Mukarwego said.

She said about 10,000 cows have also been distributed among needy families through the Girinka programme to increase milk intake and the manure for soil fertility.

The district is also putting more efforts in marshland cultivation while it has also promoted piggery.

"We want that every farmer increases productivity,” she said.