The Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture in Kigali (PAPUK) is a plan which aims at exploring and evaluating the potential of urban agriculture as a means of contributing to the country’s food and nutrition security, in order to improve the livelihoods of the urban population.

Speaking to The New Times over the weekend, Silas Rugaba the project coordinator of Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture (UPA), stressed that the plan emerged after it was realised that about 70 percent of Kigali City is rural and people who live in this area have always been left behind in the national Agricultural plan.

PAPUK was set up through an initiative of the Municipalities of Rome and Kigali City, promoted by the Glocal forum, implemented by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and jointly funded by the Italian government and the municipality of Rome.

"The biggest part of this city is rural so there was need for planning in order to put this area to good use but there was also need to plan in accordance with the city’s Master Plan,” Rugaba underscored.

Rugaba also said that the UPA project will benefit everyone in the city because it will come up with a particular crop to be grown there.

He stressed that this will also help city residents to have easy access to products like vegetables and fruits near them instead of getting them from other provinces which results into losing their freshness the time they get to the final consumers.

"Everyone can grow something regardless of their area of residence; we want to teach them how they can do it in their back yards,” Rugaba added during the interview.

The UPA project will also help in improving diet of city residents which will help reduce malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies which are still endemic in the country.

 According to the working draft document of the project which The New Times has seen, it has been realised that its successfulness will be supported by the fact that Kigali is endowed with a favourable climate and sufficient water resources.

The project is expected to be implemented through annual work plans and budgets that integrate multisectorial initiatives into a consolidated scheme in harmony with national policies and international commitments.

Ends