Help Free 100,000 Rwandans from Poverty - for life

Fair Planet launched this year its first pilot training season in Rwanda. The pilot program is conducted in 2 districts - Rwamagana (Eastern province) and Rulindo (Northern province), and in two sectors within each district - Nzige and Nyakariro in Rwamagana and Burega and Buyoga in Rulindo. We are working with individual farmers and with two farmers' cooperatives - Gwiza and Kora Ukire.

The trainees are producing cabbage in open field and sweet pepper in greenhouses. During the season each farmer was visited by Fair Planet’s trainers every week, and trained on a variety of topics related to vegetable production: plot selection and crop rotation, plot/greenhouses preparation, drip irrigation protocols, preparation and transplanting seedlings, monitoring of soil moisture and use of irrigation intervals, use of compound fertilizers and fertilizers application protocols, scouting and identification pests and diseases, plant protection and safe use of toxic chemicals

Here are two trainees that Fair Planet was visiting regularly (most trainees are still harvesting):

• Alphonse is a farmer in Gatare, Rwamagana, who produced cabbage (Powerslam by Sakata Seeds) in the past season as part of Fair Planet's training pilot. He harvested 3.7 tons of cabbage and earned 0ver 150,000 RWF, even though the weather was not preferable for cabbage production. Alphonse thinks that training helped him a lot, "especially the weekly trainings and guidance from Fair Planet that motivated me to take good care of my field following their recommendations". As for the earnings he said " I'm planning to use the earnings to expand my agricultural activities. Thank you Fair Planet".

• Martin is a farmer in Nyiramitemeri, Rwamagana, who produced cabbage (Powerslam by Sakata Seeds) in the past season as part of Fair Planet's training pilot. He harvested 2.7 tons of cabbage and earned 0ver 130,000 RWF, and he is still harvesting every week. Martin told us: "I was trained by fair Planet staff who are more experienced and I started to learn from the beginning of the season when I was preparing the nursery so I gained more knowhow and skills in this season than I ever did before". He added: " I just want to say thank you to fair planet for offering us seeds and a season with training I learnt a lot from the weekly trainings I am looking forward to remain your friend".          

On August 26^th we will be holding an open day in our center in Kigali, hosting the pilot's trainees and showcasing their results.