The Ministry of Agriculture with the support of Japanese experts has launched a five-year project that will set up a model system to maintain irrigation schemes across the country. It will be conducted in the districts of Ngoma, Rwamagana and Gisagara where it was found that irrigation schemes need maintenance for better sustainability. Dr Charles Bucagu, who is in charge of Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer at Rwanda Agriculture Board, told Sunday Times that the first phase would cost about $56,000 before embarking on other phases. He said the expertise in the management will be given to Irrigation Water Users Associations for cooperatives in marshlands and on hillsides that use irrigation technologies. “Considering the current 51,000 hectares that are under irrigation across the country, associations still have technical and skills gaps in management of the schemes. When they get damaged, they are not able to repair them in a sustainable manner. That is where the project will intervene,” he said. He noted that the government injects a lot of money in irrigation schemes but lack of sustainable management could derail the efforts. The government targets to irrigate at least 102,000 hectares by 2024 which needs sustainable management to increase agricultural productivity. At least between 8,000 ha and 9,000 ha have to be irrigated every year. Bucagu said that some irrigation canals and pumps are often damaged poor maintenance and other factors which is too expensive for the farmers to afford to rehabilitate. “The government has been deploying irrigation engineers to support the associations but we believe it is time to empower farmers in terms of technical expertise and capital through the project so that they become self-reliant in terms of maintaining the infrastructure after weaning them from the support,” he said. The official explained that better management of irrigation schemes allows farmers to grow crops in all three agricultural seasons per year including during the dry spell. The water associations will collect fees for future maintenance but Bucagu said the project will help them to boost savings. “The model system to manage the schemes will involve local leaders, Rwanda Cooperative Agency, farmers’ cooperatives, agriculture ministry and other partners to improve management of associations. The system has successfully worked in Japan and we are learning from them through Japan International Cooperation Agency support. The model will be replicated in other districts later,” he said. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
