District leaders from around the country, mainly vice mayors, were in Rwamagana, at the weekend, for two days of farming lessons.The tour, organised by the Rwanda Local Development Support Fund in partnership with the Ministry of Local Government, gave the district officials a broad vision on how they can improve socio-economic life of people in their respective districts.The local leaders visited various development projects in the district, including the popular Kitazigurwa-Nyagatovu model housing projects.Laetitia Nkunda, the director-general of RLDSF, said the tour aimed at learning from the best development practices that changed people’s lives, adding that it would help the officials in the 2013/2014 budget preparation."The study tour will help in speeding up integrated development for Rwandans. Vice mayors in the study tour will be able to make budget in accordance with people’s needs,” she said.The vice mayor in-charge of economic development in Burera district, Joseph Zaraduhaye, acknowledged that the visit gave them a new understanding on how best to uplift their districts economically."We were overwhelmed by the modern settlements. There is high level of organisation and people make a good living. We’ll try to replicate these models in our districts,” he said.The district leaders also visited Forestry and Agricultural Investment Management project in Kigabiro sector, which provides starter plants for commerce, food production, forestation and soil stabilisation.Steve Jones, the head of the project, explained to the local leaders the dynamics of modern farming. He said his project seeks to improve livelihoods and lifestyles of communities through modern fruit growing."We have a model farm and provide seedlings to farmers at low cost,” he said.The local leaders later converged to discuss how they could prepare their respective 2013/2014 budgets based on the experience from activities visited.