Visiting agriculturalists are examining the impact of Twigire Muhinzi, a home-grown farming extension model applied across Rwandan villages.

This is part of an international learning event on ‘Farmer to Farmer Extension’ on Tuesday in Kigali.

The discussion covered various aspects of farmer to farmer extension models, with Twigire Muhinzi picked as a case study for in-depth analysis.

The event was organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) in collaboration with the Belgian Technical Cooperation (BTC), and Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) with support from One Acre Fund, World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF), Swiss Cooperation, European Union, and African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS).

The meeting atrracted over 350 participants including; government officials working in extension as well as staffers from various organisations such as NGOs, development partners, universities, private sector, and farmers’ organisations, among others.

Participants are also conducting field visits to different Twigire Muhinzi sites, interviews with farmers, debates on agricultural development issues, workshops about different kinds of farmer to farmer extensions and sharing in-depth field experiences to give participants the opportunity to observe and analyse the model.

Speaking at the opening of the learning event on Tuesday, Geraldine Mukeshimana, the minister for Agriculture and Animal Resources, said it offered an opportunity to Rwanda and other countries to learn from each other.

"It will help us to know what is working in different parts of the world, including in our neighbourhood. They will also see what is working and what is not working here so that we can both adjust where necessary. It is a great opportunity for us all because it helps us to rethink and adapt accordingly,” she said.

The minister expressed gratitude to the Belgian government not only for the support extended in the process of developing the decentralised extension system but also for the overall success achieved in the country’s strategic plan for agriculture transformation.

Arnout Pauwels, the Belgian Ambassador to Rwanda, commended Rwanda for the progress registered thus far in the extension system, adding that Belgium has been proud to be part of this success story having supported the sector since 2000.

"The results are impressive. Production is higher and income is higher too. The results are not only economic but also social. I am happy to see how farmers were trained to be facilitators and later on became professional service providers. When we talk about investment in the private sector, this is a good example because it is not only about building factories but it is also about investing in people to become more productive,” he said.

Twigire Muhinzi extension model combines two different kinds of farmer to farmer extension approaches: Farmer Promoters (FP) with demonstration plots and Farmer Field Schools (FFS) with experimental plots.

Twigire Muhinzi has frontline extension agents, comprising 14,200 farmer promoters (one in each village) and 2,500 FFS facilitators, recruited from local communities and work on voluntary basis. With this model, access to advisory services across the country has increased from 32 per cent in 2012 to 69 per cent in 2015.

This extension model has enabled farmers to increase agricultural productivity significantly and those reached by farmer promoters experience more than 12 per cent increase in yields, while those reached by the FFS approach see more than a 37 per cent increase in yields.

FFS programme in Rwanda was among the 10 finalists for the global prestigious DAC Prize 2015 for taking development innovation to scale.

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