The wetland was Nyirakamana’s classroom

Sarah Nyirakamana, a resident of Gatore, Kirihe district in the Eastern province, lost her parents when she was in P3. With the death of her parents, her aunt took her in, but could only manage to pay school fees only up to P4. Left with no choice, Nyirakamana resorted to rice growing since it was the only business she had grown up doing. Now the 47-year-old has no regrets for having chosen farming. How she startedGrowing up as an orphan meant that life was never going to be a bed of roses. “My parents were rice farmers and I used to follow them to the field whenever I had an opportunity. I would go and play as they planted rice; little did I know that I, too, would end up in swamps growing rice,” Nyirakamana narrates. “When I had lost hope, the swamps offered me an opportunity; they became a ‘classroom’ where I learnt the art of rice growing,” she adds.She says those days, it was not common to find a young girl in a rice pad. Rice growing was looked at as a “dirty activity” for the poor. “Imagine a girl with long hair and vanished nails in wet land planting rice…This was not something that any girl would dare to do.”But I had no choice other than to continue the trade my parents bequeathed me. From that time, the hoe became my friend as I became its friend too,” Nyirakamana says gleefully.She says her determination immediately won her community support. “Some would call me to go and pick seedlings from their nursery beds. Others would send their daughters to come and help me plant, the list is endless. I was very lucky that everyone was willing to help,” Nyirakamana recalls.Along the way, Nyirakamana fell in love with a neighborhood rice farmer, a choice that would later bring her a fortune.“I think it was my hard work that attracted him to me,” the mother of four says.My husband taught me everything that I needed to know as far as rice farming was concerned; from tilling virgin swamps to planting, harvesting and marketing, she adds. She points out that this strengthened her passion for rice farming.Challenges Most people do not like rice farming, especially if it involves reclaiming wetlands. According to Nyirakanama, limited agro-technology is one of the biggest problems rural farmers face.Like other agriculture activities, rice farming is greatly affected by weather changes. “You can’t talk of wetland rice unless you have constant rain. That’s why we are forced to use overhead irrigation when the weather threatens our crop,” she says. She notes that rice farming also requires a lot of monitoring.Nyirakamana points out that one needs ‘specialised’ skills and a big workforce throughout the season to ensure birds do not destroy the garden.Price fluctuation is also a major handicap to rice growers, especially when there are bump harvests. “Also, dealers from Kigali are never predictable. Sometimes we agree on a certain price as a co-operative, but when these people come they offer less for the cereal,” she says.She noted that dealers at times want the price to be cut by 10 percent, reducing the cost of 100kg bag of rice from Rwf45,000 to Rwf35,000. “This discourages farmers” Nyirakamana said.Rice harvesting also requires a lot of space, which in most cases becomes difficult to find. AchievementsNyirakamana has no regrets to have ventured in low land rice growing. She now earns about Rwf700,000 every season, enough to take care of her family and save. She employs 15 workers.With her husband’s support, she has constructed a decent house and bought a piece of land in Kirehe and owns 10 exotic cows. Nyirankamana says all her four children are studying in some of the best schools in Kigali. They also bought a family car. Nyirankama now grows rice on three hectares of land. She is the local co-operative’s market co-ordinator for Kirihe rice farmers. She is also a consultant in rice farming at the co-operative. Ezechiel Gasasira, the chairman Kirehe Rice Growers’ Co-operative, lauds Nyirakamana’s contribution to rice growing in the Eastern Province. “She has encouraged many women to engage in rice farming, many have followed.”Advice to farmers and stakeholdersThere is a fortune in farming, and many opportunities not yet exploited. It does not matter whether it is rice farming, beans or bananas, what matters is what you reap at the end of the day. “I don’t see why the youth run to towns and Kigali to become unemployed when there are many opportunities in farming,” she wonders.She calls on the government to provide subsidies to farmers to address the issue of price fluctuations. She also urges the government to link farmers to better markets. “This will help eliminate brokers who are always cheating us,” she argues.