Nellie Ingabire is a resident  of Kayumba Sector in Nyamata, says she has found a purpose and value in farming. On her plot of land of about 14 hectares she is involved in multiple agriculture practices, including  rearing animals like pigs, cattle, goats, ducks, chickens, rabbits, bees crop growing,  floriculture and plants for medicinal purposes.

How she started

The idea to venture into agriculture started in 2013 when Ingabire was at the time operating a restaurant in Kigali. She bought land in Nyamata where she started engaging in agriculture to support her restaurant.

However, in 2015 she was expecting twins and needed a job that would allow her have enough time with her babies. After giving birth, she decided to focus on farming as the restaurant required her to work 18 to 20 hours a day. Which she said was limiting her to stay with her kids.

Nellie Ingabire, cutting feeds for the chickens at her farm in Nyamata. Photos by Joan Mbabazi.

Although she had a farm previously, she had never concentrated on it much. It was then that she decided to close the restaurant and relocated to Nyamata to focus on farming.

She started rearing pigs in 2013 and says that she noted an increase in demand from many people.  For the last three years, the number of pigs has been increasing as she sells many each and every single day. She started with five pigs, at the moment she has about 200 pigs.

From the time she started rearing pigs, she has had a total of about 700 pigs. She sells these pigs depending on the size. Each kilogram of a live pig is sold at Rwf 2,200.

Pigs that weigh 120kgs, are sold at between Rwf 300,000, and Rwf 200,000.

 "I have about eight cows, mixed with local and cross breed types. I get about 35 liters of milk every day, each little is sold at Rwf 400. Out of the 35 liters, I sell about 25 liters of milk to mostly my neighbourhood. I have daily customers, some pay me monthly others on a daily basis,” she said.

In 2015, she bought goats at the local market and the He- goats Hybrids from Rwanda Agricultural Board (RAB) for cross breeding, since they grow very fast.

The agri-prenuer supplies the goats mostly to organisations that work with local communities to provide goats to the rural women.

She sells the goats in large numbers as organizations often approach her to place orders of about 300 goats at a go.

Ingabire poses after collecting eggs from the chickens. 

Often, she also serves as a an agent for organizations buying large numbers of goats and makes a profit of about Rwf 5,000 from each goat.

In 2018, she set up bee hives at her farm enabling her to produce natural honey. She conducted surveys and research and established that most of the honey on the market was not natural, and contained artificial ingredients and sugars yet very expensive.

The fact that she had started growing flowers, and had the eucalyptus forest; enabled her easily start bee keeping.

She notes that the first honey harvest was really good. It was about 10 to 15 liters of honey per bee hive. This totaled up to 80 liters of honey. Ingabire has no doubt that bee keeping will remain profitable in coming years. 

She harvests honey every after four or five months and sell it at at Rwf 4,500 per kg.

The entrepreneur also rears chicken. Currently, she rears a mixture of crawlers (a breed from India), which weigh about 7 kg. She said that the breed is ideal as it has higher diseases resistance and is good for both eggs and chicken.

 She sells the chickens when they are about four or five months old.  She collects about four to five trays of eggs and sells each tray s at Rwf5,000.

On top of that, she also rears the guinea fowls, which she notes that are usually in demand especially by Kigali Serena Hotel. She sells each bird which weighs about 2 and ½ kgs, at Rwf 30,000.

"I now have 55 guinea fowls of which 17 of them are laying eggs. I pick about 10 eggs daily and at the end of the month, I usually take the eggs to the hatchery, so am looking forward to having 1000 birds.

She rears rabbits, both local and elephant head breed, which comes from Belgium; however for now, they are not for sale yet until they increase in number. .

Ingabire also grows a number of crops especially those that are rare on the market. For instance; "gonja”, the local sweet bananas. She also grows different types of crops like bananas, cassava, greens and fruits.

"I have a ‘miracle’ plant which is locally known as lime; it is very scarce yet has many medicinal functions. It is highly used in restaurants, 5 star hotels for cocktail, lemonade and much more, it’s quite expensive,” she notes.

For now, she has about 100 plants of lime so far, and her customers include the Kigali Serena Hotel. Also, she sells it to a number of households who know it and use it for health purposes. She sells about 100kgs every two weeks, a kg goes for Rwf 2,500.

Other innovations at the farm

Ingabire recently started growing flowers which she sells them packaged in weaved baskets and flower vases. A flower in a vase or baskets goes for Rwf 30,000.

Having identified a large number of many women idle in Nyamata, Ingabire brought them together and had them trained to weave. Over time, the group has been able to produce baskets among other items and sell them. 

To manage the multiple operations of the farm, she has 7 permanent workers and hires at least 4 casual labourers every day.

Advice to women seeking to join agri-business

Ingabire urges women seeking to enter the sector to "stop jumping from one thing to another, but rather focus on one thing that you are ready to put all your efforts. If you have land however little it might be, plant there trees, you will be surprised of how much you will earn from them.”

She added that one doesn’t need to have all the skills necessary to start your own business, as long as they are willing to learn.

The single mother calls upon women not to give up or even always expecting their husbands to provide for them everything, but rather to look for economic activities they can be engaged in.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com