As part of the National Environmental Week, members and staff from different CSOs and NGOs on June 3, 2022 met in Bugesera District where they visited activities done in a small scale irrigation project implemented by Action pour la Protection de l’Environnement et la Promotion des Filieres Agricoles (APEFA) in Ngeruka Sector.
The peer learning and exchange visit for civil society organizations was in line with celebrations of World Environment Day 2022 celebrated under the theme “Only One Earth’’.
Organized by Rwanda Governance Board (RGB), the event was also a platform to discuss climate change-related projects and learn from each CSO and other’s best practices.
APEFA implements the project “Improving the livelihood of the smallholder farmers through promoting the climate resilient agriculture in Bugesera District’’ funded by UNDP Rwanda.
APEFA demonstrated how a solar-powered small-scale irrigation project works while the beneficiaries highlighted how solar-powered irrigation systems helped them increase the agricultural production in their area of residence with limited rainfall due to climate change effects.
The project focuses on solar powered irrigation, storing water lake in a dam sheet to reduce the number of residents who farmed in Cyohoha Lake buffer citing long distances from water sources to their farms to irrigate.
The project is implemented on 34 Ha and supports more than 229 smallholder farmers grouped into 4 cooperatives with 229 members, including 116 women and 113 men.