In March 2023 starting from the 10th there was some bit heavy rain in the country until the end of the month which has in many ways affected some people in the Rwandan community, especially farmers as they revealed so to the RCCDN.
After several close checking of this heavy rain case, on March 22, 2023, the RCCDN community resource visited three community lead farmer representatives in the Kicukiro District and others two in the Gasabo District. In their great conversation, they shared some insights on the effects of this heavy rainfall.
The lead farmers who were cultivating in swaps; some of them had smiling faces because rain made their cultivation easy, whereas most of them were in tears due to rain that washed away their crops and vegetables.
Evariste Mbonigaba whose farming was positively affected
Evariste Mbonigaba, a 30-year-old located in Kicukiro District said, “Though it had been a long season with a lot of droughts, this rain was of great importance to me since it made my cultivation very easy and so I immediately started planting vegetables and other related crops.”
Before, he used to water his planted crops with some watering cans and basins due to a lack of types of equipment to be used.
The community resource person having a conversation with the two farmer representatives
Both Elina Mukashema and Chantal Nyinawingeri who dwell in Gasabo District, Remera Sector and Rukiri 1 Cell; on the results of heavy rainfall that occurred on the previous day has led to the washing away of the topsoil and these farmers’ crops. “Most of my crops were taken by the flood due to the heavy rain. It was a very hard moment for some of us. We really lost a lot and we don’t know how we will recover. We realized that all these are caused by climate change and we really need to do better, find solutions, plant more trees and stop cutting them down,” said Mukashema.
These two lead farmers mentioned above; their crops like vegetables and vegetables were all destructed by this rain, thus leaving them poor and do not have enough capital to purchase other crops and vegetables destructed by this rain.
Most crops were flooded because of the rain
In some parts of the Northern Province and southern part of Rwanda, this heavy rain caused floods; some banana plantations and other vegetables and crops were heavily destructed. It also washed away crops such as beans, maize, cassava and yams, vegetables like spinach were hindered too
One can say that this rainfall caused both positive and negative impacts on the existing communities in different parts of the country. It is with such incidents that most of the citizens pledged to plant trees, take care of the environment and work closely to play parts in ensuring climate justice.
With the help of: Aggrey Rwibasira
