NYAMAGABE - President Paul Kagame has commended the leadership and residents of Nyamagabe district for their efforts in spearheading development in the Province and urged them to do more to consolidate what has been achieved.

Addressing a mammoth crowd at the Nyagisenyi Stadium in Gasaka sector, President Kagame commended the people of Nyamagabe for heeding the advice given to them in his earlier visits to continue setting the pace for all districts in regard to socio-economic development.

Kagame, on the second day of his tour of the Southern Province, told the residents of the district which for two consecutive years has emerged as the best performing district that their efforts and hard work has indeed paid off as demonstrated by the development in the district.

He urged them to shun complacency and maintain the current pace towards achieving the country’s development goals like they have done in the past.

Kagame reminded them that as Rwandans and Africans, it is only through rediscovering their dignity and abandoning the culture of depending on others that goals they set themselves can be achieved.

He underscored the importance of self reliance and called upon Rwandans to take responsibility for their future because they have the capacity, adding that it is high time they started seeking solutions from within themselves.

He noted that foreign assistance should be utilised to lay a foundation for development.

Earlier the President had visited Kagano Model Village- which emerged the best model village in the country in the performance contracts and the Rukarara hydro-electric project before winding up at Nyagisenyi Stadium.

While at Kagano, he visited homes of some members of the Kagano Ndatwa Cooperative comprising of 450 members out of 640 residents of the village.

The cooperative, through land consolidation has put together 71 hectares of cultivable land on which they have devoted to growing wheat, harvesting over 180 tonnes of wheat per season.

Through the cooperative, members have provided a model of what a village ought to look like.

They have protected their consolidated lands through terracing, kitchen gardens have been set up and livestock keeping has been embraced to boost incomes.

Patricia Mukarurangwa, a mother of four, rears two exotic cows which provide her with 10 litres of milk daily. With this income, she has managed to sustain her family and send her children to school.

Sarafina Nyiranzaramba, another member of the cooperative has managed to buy a motorcycle and construct herself a commercial house out of the earnings from the wheat farm.

The Mayor of Nyamagabe, Alphonse Munyentwari highlighted the achievements the district has registered in the past years and among other things said that residents are determined to concentrate on growing of lucrative cash crops especially tea, coffee and wheat.

Addressing Kagano residents after the tour, Kagame expressed satisfaction with the progress made.

He commended residents for their ability to produce food for domestic consumption and reserving some for the market.
The President said that Kagano is an example that should be emulated by the rest of the Country.

Kagame noted that the time for rhetoric is over. He said that what is needed today is implementation and getting results as the Kagano example has demonstrated.

The President commended the high level of cleanliness evident in Kagano and the local innovations in fostering it.

He pledged government support to the residents through the provision of quality seeds that should see a harvest of at least 4 tonnes of wheat on a hectare of land.

Commenting on the stalled loan scheme to help farmers buy cows, President Kagame said that the scheme will be revitalised given its success in eradicating rural poverty.

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