NYAGATARE - Nyagatare District is expected to realise a significant increase in rice production following the Rural Sector Support Project’s implementation of an irrigation project in Muvumba perimeter 8.

The project is implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture is funded by the World Bank.
  
Jolly Dusabe, the project coordinator, said in an interview that the project would cover over 1,500 hectares, and rich production in the Muvumba Valley will start by 2012. 

"This will provide a significant contribution to food security in Rwanda because it will have an annual output of 20,000 tonnes,” she revealed.

She said that the project would cost over Rwf 8 billion and will consist of a 27Km long irrigation canal and three water reservoirs supported by a network of secondary and tertiary canals that will irrigate rice in the valley.

Major construction work is currently underway at various sites with over 4,000 people set to get employment.

"Construction work will be complete by the end of this year and planting rice will begin immediately,” she said.

Dusabe noted that the project also has an afforesting programme to help control soil erosion.

‘With the presence of this irrigation infrastructure, farmers using the valley will no longer depend on rain for cultivation and production will be all through the year,” She said.

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