During the 2024 A and B seasons, more than 850,000 farmers in 27 districts of Rwanda have recorded increased yields and generated Rwf138 billion of impact thanks to access to agro-inputs and other services delivered by One Acre Fund Rwanda.
This impact number was revealed on May 7, 2024, as One Acre Fund Rwanda, the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI), Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB), and stakeholders in the agriculture sector, reflected and discussed the achievements in agriculture over the last two seasons (2024AB) and the focus areas for the 2025A and B seasons.
One Acre Fund is an international social enterprise that works to make farmers more prosperous. In Rwanda, One Acre Fund operates under three distinct brands: Tubura, One Acre Fund, and Smallholder Resilience Ventures (SRV). The farmer-facing brand, Tubura, provides farmers access to the products, tools, and services they need to improve their harvests, keep their families healthy, and their soils rich. One Acre Fund partners with the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture (RICA) and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation to accelerate the growth of a strong seed sector. Smallholder Resilience Ventures invests in agriculture value chains to ensure the private sector works for farmers.
"Under our farmer-facing program, we supplied agricultural input to more than 850, 000 farmers and trained them on good agricultural practices, which significantly increased the farmers’ harvest,” said Belinda Bwiza, the CEO of One Acre Fund Rwanda. "Through 1,841 three nursery entrepreneurs, we distributed 20 million agroforestry trees to more than 766,000 farmers to continue addressing climate change-related challenges,” she added.
The organization also supports farmers in collecting their maize, avocado, and chili harvest and links them to reliable markets.
Telesphore Ndabamenye, Director General of Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Board (RAB), commended One Acre Fund Rwanda for their contribution to increasing agricultural productivity to be able to address food insecurity, malnutrition, and poverty.
"They help a lot in linking maize farmers, for example, to reliable markets after offering drying and storage facilities to curb post-harvest losses. Agroforestry and fruit trees that are distributed to farmers are transforming agriculture and conserving the environment,” he said.
The organization partnered with agricultural sectors and institutions to process and distribute good quality maize and potato seed, and they facilitated the construction of the Seed Centre at the Rwanda Institute of Conservation Agriculture (RICA) with a focus on offering Rwandan seed companies B2B services to make it easier for them to get great seed to farmers.
In 2025 A and B planting seasons, One Acre Fund Rwanda will keep collaborating with the Rwanda Ministry of Agriculture, the Rwanda agriculture and animal resources, and agriculture sectors to better serve farmers and support in handling post-harvest losses, invest in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and distribute 25 million trees.