The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today, goes an old adage. Jonathan Ntakanyurumwanzi, a former taxi moto rider has literally turned this old saying into reality. Now a successful farmer, Ntakanyurumwanzi says the future of the country will depend on how Rwandans exploit the potential in agriculture.

Starting out

The resident of Bugarama village, Kibirizi in Nyamagabe District says he had dreams of becoming a veterinary doctor while growing up. Unfortunately, this was never to be as he dropped out of school because his parents could not afford fees. He says to "keep hope alive”, he left his home district and moved to Kigali City, where he joined the hundreds of city taxi moto riders about 10 years ago. He was introduced to the business by a village friend who also secured him a motorcycle on loan. He says he repaid the loan through daily earnings for a period of two years before fully owning it.

"I used to work for long hours a day to raise the money, and I was able to complete the payment within the specified time, which made me a proud owner of the motorcycle,” he says.

Ntanyurumwanzi says while riding the bike, he was able to conduct a market survey on the popular foodstuffs in Kigali as he planned to venture into farming. Indeed, after three years, he had managed to save some money which he invested in growing Irish potatoes back in his home village.

The 35-year-old model farmer says he started out growing Irish potatoes "because of the high demand for the staple in Kigali”. 

Later, he diversified into rearing pigs and goats. He says by then he had quit the taxi moto business to concentrate on farming and produce trade. 

Ntanyurumwanzi adds that he also ventured into maize and wheat growing to avoid risks that come with reliance on a single cash crop. He notes that he embraced an enterprise mix model as a strategy to become competitive, adding that he uses the animal droppings as manure in the gardens. 

"With piggery and goat rearing I was able to reduce risks, but also generate enough manure to increase crop yields,” he says. 

Ntanyurumwanzi says he sells his potatoes in Kigali because buyers in the city offer better prices compared to Nyamagabe. 

The enterprising farmer was lucky to benefit from the Land Husbandry Water Harvesting and Hillside Irrigation (LWH) project. 

"Through the project, I was able to acquire modern farming skills, which was the closest I could get to my childhood dream of becoming an agronomist,” he says.

Challenges

Unpredictable weather is one of the challenges Ntanyurumwanzi faces. He says prolonged dry spells, heavy rains and floods always leave him counting losses. High interest rates are also some of the major challenges affecting Ntanyurumwanzi’s productivity to date. 

He also says poor soils and erosion another big challenge.

Price fluctuations coupled with poor rural roads also affect earnings and quality of produce, he adds.

"The key challenges are low production and transport and other logistical problems,” he emphasises. Ntanyurumwanzi says farmers in Nyamagabe are however optimistic about the current government initiatives to boost rural infrastructure, and setting up of post-harvest storage facilities.

Achievements

Ntanyurumwanzi says his greatest achievement has been being able to turn his childhood dream into a reality. 

He says he has been able to buy more land from two hectares to more than 10 hectares, giving him an opportunity to practice both crop and animal husbandry. He says he earns over Rwf1 million from his farming activities per season. 

"I also make and sell composite manure to other farmers, which generates another Rwf200,000 every season,” he says. The farmer has since bought two more motorcycles and opened a small retail shop in Nyamagabe.

Future plans

Ntanyurumwanzi has set his eyes on the regional market, and wants to venture into the beef processing and export business targeting the East African Community market.

"Rwanda is still importing a lot of foodstuff from the neighbouring countries. However, farmers can turn this into an opportunity, especially through extensive agriculture production, value-addition and export promotion,” he says. 

He also has plans of going back to school to study agronomics.

Advice

Ntanyurumwanzi advises taxi moto riders to save and invest in other activities, particularly farming, to earn more income. 

"They should look at farming as a sustainable source of money because time comes when you can no longer afford to ride that taxi moto,” he says.

He urges farmers to embrace modern farming techniques for better rewards.