Rwanda - Sustainable Dairy Enterprise Development Project

Nine-year-old Chantal Batamuliza has just finished milking her family's Friesian heifer in Nsinda village in Rwanda.

Over 90 percent of the populations in the proposed project sites are engaged in subsistence crops and livestock agriculture. However, low agricultural productivity is due mainly to the use of rudimentary agricultural tools, poor access to financial services and lack of access to modern agricultural inputs. Disorganized markets and unreliable market information expose farmers to exploitation by middlemen. Due to lack of proper integration, the interdependence between crops and livestock, which would have allowed for nutrient recycling, is very minimal. Instead of feeding to animals or adding to the soil, crop residues are often used as household fuel for cooking. The hilly topography of the farm lands in the four provinces coupled with non-conservation oriented farming practices, predispose the soil to severe wind and water erosion.

Due to high population density in the arable parts of the country, landholding sizes tend to be very small (an average of 0.6 hectare/family). Productivity of the livestock is unsatisfactory because of poor genetic potential of local breeds, poor husbandry conditions, high disease prevalence and lack of integration between crops and livestock. To compensate for poor productivity, farmers tend to keep higher number of livestock than they can support with the resources they have. This not only further diminishes livestock productivity, but also accelerates environmental degradation.

The project goal is to improve the livelihoods of 1,200 farm families directly by ensuring food and income security at household level through integrated intervention in dairy production, environmental management, and capacity building of cooperatives, improving market-access/improvement and knowledge/skills application.

A total of 1,200 improved in-calf heifers will be distributed to 1,200 families (600 original and 600 Pass-ons) during the 5-year lifespan of the project. Placement of dairy heifers will be preceded by intensive training in improved dairy husbandry, pasture establishment, crop-livestock integration, livestock product processing and marketing. For long-term sustainability and replicabilty of the project, intensive training will be given on Heifer’s Cornerstones for just and sustainable development. Furthermore, the project will identify, train and equip 16 community animal health workers and artificial insemination technicians, who will then provide services to the community during and beyond the project lifespan.

Farmer groups will be linked to other service and input providers, such as but not limited to microfinance organization, veterinary drugs and feed suppliers.

View more Heifer projects