Target group. Out of the district’s estimated population of 290,000 people (55,000 households, of which 28 per cent woman-headed), the project will target 40,000 farm households owning less than 1 ha and 7,000 landless households. Selection of participating households will be based on priorities set in the district’s development plan, taking into consideration additional criteria such as poverty, food insecurity, level of land degradation and potential for irrigation development. Project objectives. The project’s overall goal is to increase the incomes and food security of the rural poor in Kirehe district. Its immediate objectives are to: (i) stabilize and enhance agricultural production by reducing the loss of agricultural land through community-based soil and water conservation measures and sustainable support services; (ii) enable farming communities to plan and implement sustainable market-oriented intensification and value addition of their on-farm production; (iii) improve agricultural water management by developing irrigated agriculture and strengthening water institutions; and (iv) facilitate the inclusion of vulnerable groups in socio-economic development through increased opportunities for farm and non-farm activities. Project description. The project will have four components, which will be finalized during project development:
Potential cofinanciers. Discussions are ongoing with Royal Tropical Institute in the Netherlands, for specialized technical assistance; the World Food Programme, for food-for-work activities; and the European Union and the African Development Bank, for road infrastructure activities. Photo caption 1: IFAD photo by Robert Grossman - Rwanda -Intensified Land Use Management Project in the Buberuka Highlands - The trees grown in this nursery 6 kilometres east of Kigombe, in Ruhondo, are planted on terraced hillsides to help prevent erosion. As part of a food-for-work programme sponsored by the World Food Programme, IFAD contributed training, seeds and other material. Photo caption 2: IFAD photo by Benoit Thierry - Rwanda, Intensified Land Use Management Project in the Buberuka Highlands - Terraces, built with project support and covering thousands of hectares, are now being used intensively. A specialized cooperative provides technical assistance for the diffusion of the radical terracing technique. |
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Project area. The project will concentrate its activities on the Kirehe district, where rainfall is erratic, and poverty and food insecurity are widespread. It will create synergies with projects already operating in other districts of Rwanda. 
Important features. The proposed project is consistent with the strategic objectives of IFAD’s country strategic opportunities programme for 2008-2012 and responds to Rwanda’s newly formulated economic development and poverty reduction strategy and its Strategic Plan for the Transformation of Agriculture. It will respond to the Government’s objectives of working towards a sector-wide approach in the use of existing procedures and structures, and further developing community-based planning and agricultural water management frameworks. The project will build on the experience gained while implementing PAPSTA, and synergies will be created with other IFAD-financed projects with respect to input supply and marketing. Innovative features will include the introduction of a purely market-based approach to irrigation development in Rwanda, and the provision of local competitive funds to boost the empowering effects of community-based planning processes.