PRISM project transforming lives of small scale farmers
One of them, Dalia Iryitangiye, a 68-year-old resident of Rwintare village, Mbogo cell, now owns two pigs in a wooden pigsty she built herself, with support from the project providing iron sheets for roofing and cement for flooring.
She said that she is looking forward to a bright future because nearly three years back, she was a desperate lady in extreme poverty.
“I was just a small-scale farmer who would buy some piglets only to resell them before they mature, since I was lacking skills for rearing them. That means I could not earn much from them,” she said.
“I am grateful to the government for supporting us by providing these animals and capacity building on how to take good care of them” she said.
After receiving the one pig in 2022, Iryitangiye was trained in livestock care, which she applied successfully, leading to increased reproduction.
“When I got my pig, I immediately took it for artificial insemination. It gave birth to eight piglets. Once they grew, I kept two and gave them to a neighbor whom I also helped build a pigsty as strong as mine. I then sold the rest and used the money to buy household essentials,” she added.
When her pig gave birth to 12 piglets the second time and another 12 the third time, she was able to renovate her house, replacing the old iron sheets and installing a cement floor. This was his life’s turnaround.
“I have been selling piglets for RWF 20,000-Rwf 25,000 at unity price. Pigs are valuable livestock that can help farmers escape poverty,” she said.
Sarah Narayisabye, also from Gikonko Sector, began pig farming in 2023 with two piglets she received through PRISM’s Passing on the Gift program.
Within six months, she earned RWF 1,000,000, reinvested in her farm, and now plans to raise more than 20 pigs. Thanks to financial literacy training, she also managed to save money and open a restaurant in her home center, through the earning from the piglets.
With five pigsties currently, Narayisabye is looking forward to extending to eight by the end of this year.
She would also strengthen a parallel business of poultry, with now 17 chicken which include 17 layers.
Narayisabye is happy that all her businesses are running with her restaurant now worth Rwf 2 million, courtesy of two pigs from PRISM coupled with the capacity building of the project.
In the last four years of operations in Rwanda, PRISM has supportes 6,651 households with piglets in 15 districts where it operates, including Ruhango, Huye, Gisagara, Nyaruguru and Nyamagabe for the Southern Province.
It also provided chicken to 15,984 households.
Joseph Nshokeyinka, the coordinator of the program said, that the project is transforming lives of the beneficiaries.
“We chose the benefiting districts because they were the most lacking in terms of food security, but today we are thankful of the outcome. The program uplifted beneficiaries who were under poverty lines in the last four years when we started,” Nshokeyinka said.
Launched in 2021, the PRISM project is an initiative of the Government of Rwanda in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
It is implemented through the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) and the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB).
Expected to close in 2026, the project intends to reach 26,355 households which will benefit small livestock by September next year.