“Some see it as a waste of my scholarship.”īut Ndayishimiye is the prototype of the modern Rwandan farmer: educated and with a view of how the agriculture industry can evolve from farm to processing to export. “To them, farming is what you do when you don’t have any other options or education,” she says. While her family is supportive, Ndayishimiye admits her choice mystifies many people. “I wanted to start a business in agriculture because it’s the least productive industry but has a lot of potential,” she says.Īn unexpected call from Bridge2Rwanda founder Dale Dawson presented the perfect opportunity: to run the Nova Farm. But as she neared graduation, Ndayishimiye, who was among the Bridge2Rwanda Scholars educated in the US, felt pulled toward agriculture. When an American visitor to the farm munched a leaf of arugula that’s not part of the local diet, a Rwandan friend laughed, “You look like a goat.”īut the real evolution to come is changing how people think about agriculture.Ī 2018 graduate of Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, Ndayishimiye was on course to go into a career in financial services. It also takes some convincing to add new crops to the mix, such as salad greens that can be sold to hotels to service Rwanda’s growing tourism industry. ![]() But with the average farm plot measuring less than half a hectare, farmers don’t want to grow what they and their families can’t eat. One of the biggest challenges at Nova Farm is convincing farmers to grow soybeans to supply a ready and growing market such as Zamura Feeds, an animal feed mill established in Rwanda by Donnie Smith, the former CEO of Tyson Foods. Others who work at or have been trained by Nova Farm are starting to adopt better practices. Some farmers look at Nova Farm’s fields with disbelief. Ndayishimiye says her organization tries to do everything it can to tailor its projects to the average Rwandan farmer. Rwanda, which is the size of Maryland, is the second most densely populated country in Africa, raising the stakes for sustainably increasing the productivity of the land tilled by the country’s mostly subsistence farmers, who account for about 70 percent of the population. They think in terms of making money by selling milk, or how much they can make by selling crops like onions or tomatoes,” she says. “Some farmers are starting to see agriculture as a business. Gerardine Mukeshimana, Rwanda’s Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, stresses the importance of an evolving agriculture sector to provide better food security, increase export crops beyond coffee and tea, and create jobs. “It’s all very connected, from the work we do here on the farm up the chain,” says Rosine Ndayishimiye, manager of Nova Farm operated by Bridge2Rwanda, a US-based NGO. Facial Recognition Technology Could Improve Livestock Health
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