More than 70% of Rwanda’s population are engaged in agriculture, which contributes about one-third of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

Agriculture contributes to fostering food security and better nutrition. Rwanda recognizes that agriculture will be the foundation for success for the 2050 vision through professionalizing farmers towards wealth creation through agriculture. 

Working with the government to achieve this, One Acre Fund-TUBURA provides farmers with a comprehensive service model that delivers a complete bundle of services to them, including financing, training, local delivery and market facilitation. 

Farmers are able to harvest enough for food and sell off the surplus earning them a much needed income.  However, the market matters. Many farmers earn very low when they sell to middlemen who end up benefiting from the farmers’ hard work. Therefore, the organization is partnering with domestic and international buyers to link farmers to better markets. 

"Before working with One Acre Fund-TUBURA, we had fraudsters, who came and took away our yield in smaller quantities at a lower price. But now, we use the scale for accurate measurements. So we are paid depending on the market rates and are able to invest in things like buying a plot of land, animals, and many more,” says Munyaneza Theogene, a 37-year-old farmer living in the Kirehe district. 

Farmers also say that post-harvest losses would limit them to a premium market and prevent them from selling all their produce. In addition to proving the market, One Acre Fund-TUBURA trains farmers with best post-harvest handling practices including but not limited to drying, shelling, storage, grading, sorting, and packing. 

"Since our partnership with One Acre Fund-TUBURA, our profit has scaled up significantly because we no longer lose our produce through poor post-harvest handling methods. Our crops do not rot in our houses because we harvest and sell right away,” says Claudine Murekatete, a farmer in the Mpanga sector of Kirehe district. 

Evariste Bagambiki, the Communications Specialist at One Acre Fund-TUBURA, expressed that the initiative is part of his organization’s mission to transform the lives of Rwandan farmers. 

He added his organization is currently buying maize from nine rural districts and is moving on in the different districts and with other crops apart from maize.  

"We started with supporting the farmers to increase their produce. Now we are moving to provide the market to that produce and post-harvest management. We aim to empower farmers and local traders to advance their business because we are working with local buyers and also supporting the government’s vision for wealth creation through agriculture,” he said.

According to Bagambiki, farmers should move from subsistence farming to a market-driven system to earn more money. 

With the government’s support, since 2018, One Acre Fund-TUBURA has connected approximately three thousand individual farmers to better markets. In 2022, the organization is targeting to reach more than six thousand farmers.