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Today, 13 October 2017, APEFA (Action for the Protection of the environment and the promotion of agricultural sectors) has trained the members of Yanze Horticulture Product Cooperative (YAHOPROC) and local authorities on the value of sticking together in cooperatives, and how farmers growing vegetables can economically raise.

 

The workshop was connected to the project of the Rational use of Yanze river water for local agriculture development in Rulindo District, and for domestic use in Kigali city.

 

The workshop has taken place in the hall of Ngoma Sector in Rulindo District, and brought together local leaders and about 25 members of cooperative. The training was divided into three main sections. Cooperatives the direct way of poverty reduction, improved farming aimed at development, and the effective business planning that can ease the generation of loan from micro-financial institutions.

 

It was opened by the APEFA Director of Finance Kubwayezu Livingstone, who warmly welcomed the participants, and thanked them to have turned up. He breafly explained the reason and expected impact of trainings, then give the flow to the trainer who was Eric Twagirayezu, a partisan of Africa Agri-Business academy and a lecturer at University of Rwanda, Rusizi campus in the faculty of Agri-business. He has a high expertise in training small farmers on productive agriculture and market identification. 

 

The population were entirely taught what a cooperative is, pillars and norms regarding the aim of a cooperative, rules and regulations of a cooperative, the role of a cooperatives, its administration profile, and so many more concerning the lifespan of a cooperative.    He said that a cooperative should employ an accountant skilled worker, who is not part of the cooperative to manage its financial relations impartially. ?He/she should be both engaged and terminated by the leading committee after consulting the overall members. Said the trainer.

 

Trainees were also shown how vegetables are more five time profitable than any other clops that should be grown, because of the fact that vegetables give production as quickly as possible, since you can start reaping them after one month. Another fact is that vegetables are grown on small area of land, even at home they can replace flowers grown for decollation and plant vegetable for consumption in vases, dust bins, and sacs all filled with the very rich soil. This second part of the workshop was to divert their strategies from farming for consumption to farming for financial development since the market for vegetables is still vast to the extent of importing 70% of the vegetables used in Rwandan hotels.

 

The last session was how a cooperative member or a cooperative itself can manage to get financial support from locally centralized financial institutions. They learnt approaches of a good business plan that can favor an individual or a cooperative to get loans. What a business plan should fulfill, when and how to present a business plan in a financial institutions and so on.

 

On behalf of the Executive Secretary of Ngoma Sector,  the Social Affair Officer thanked APEFA for the restless persuasion of the developmental projects brought to the citizen of Ngoma sector. He asked the people to protect every activity brought towards them and promised APEFA the tight collaboration with the community to assure the security of the infrastructures of the project.

 

Some members of the cooperative who are ready to start their activities of the new season have been told to prepare their land so well that they can be given seeds to plant. They have been also proposed to apply the land consolidation system in order to increase their production, which will ease the search for the market, after the gap of vegetables will have been filled.