On a hillside in Eastern Rwanda, Vincent Mwiseneza’s farm flourishes, its cassava fields stretching toward the lake below. But unlike most farmers who harvest cassava for food, Vincent is focused on something even more vital – seeds.
At just 34 years old, Vincent is the largest cassava seed multiplier in Rwanda’s Eastern Province, providing countless other farmers with access to high-quality planting materials to strengthen food security across the region. Every day, he provides decent work for between 50 and 100 people.
It’s an impressive achievement, but it hasn’t come without challenges. Vincent’s journey is one of resilience, innovation, and an unwavering dream to build a sustainable agribusiness.
Vincent’s agribusiness journey began in 2018. After starting his career with Rwanda’s Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (MINAGRI), he set off on his own to fulfill his dream of building a sustainable agribusiness. Using his savings, Vincent originally purchased one hectare of land in Kayonza District where he produced sweet potato and cassava seeds.
After three years of dedication, Vincent expanded his farm to four hectares, establishing himself as a key force in the local and regional seed-producing system. Vincent then built a network of out-growers, which includes women’s cooperatives and associations, along with individual farmers. By providing them with cassava seeds that they cultivate and sell back to him, Vincent ensures a steady supply chain and offer farmers a reliable market.
However, the dry season in Rwanda – which runs from late May to August – posed a significant challenge to creating a reliable supply chain. Most farmers relied only on the rain, which often led to delayed planting. Recognizing this obstacle, Vincent invested in an innovative irrigation system, which allows him to produce cassava seeds year-round.
“Other farmers depend on rain, but I do not depend on rain because I pump from here [the lake] to the hillside,” says Vincent. “[There is] better productivity all year round – my crops are safe in the dry season.”
By multiplying seeds during the dry season, Vincent plays a critical role in supporting timely planting for other farmers. “In Rwanda, I play a big role in food security,” he shares.
He has his work cut out for him. In Rwanda, Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD) stalks every cassava farmer, and low yields present significant challenges. CBSD, which reduces crop yields for those harvesting cassava for food, was also decimating Vincent’s cassava cuttings. The key to overcoming these challenges is to obtain earlier generation cassava seeds. But in Rwanda these are typically only available in small quantities and are mostly used for research.
To tackle this challenge, Vincent was connected to MEDA and the Virus Resistant Cassava for Africa (ViRCA) project by the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB). ViRCA provided him with 32,000 early generation cassava seeds, market facilitation that enabled him to sell seeds to other cassava seed entrepreneurs, and training on good agriculture and management practices.
The interventions have supported Vincent to multiply more varieties of early generation seeds. He now offers three varieties of these seeds – more than any other agribusiness in Rwanda. The Rwanda Inspectorate, Competition and Consumer Protection Authority (RICA) visits his farm for seed inspections and certifies his seeds to ensure their high quality.
“Farmers who get my seeds are very happy,” says Vincent, noting that the seeds are disease-resistant, high quality, and more productive. He was also able to double his cassava seed production after learning through ViRCA-facilitated training how to cut his seeds at a length of 20cm instead of 40cm.
Before Vincent worked with the ViRCA project, he employed 15-20 casual employees each day. Today, that number has increased to 50-100 each day – with over half being women.
Vincent also organizes his workers into small groups and implements a savings mechanism to promote greater financial resilience. Vincent supports the groups to pool 10% of their wages into collective savings. Once the agreed-upon amount is reached, the groups decide how to utilize the funds together. To date, these savings have been used to buy livestock and clothing or to pay for school fees and health insurance for the workers’ families. Vincent also gives his employees cassava seeds to help them tackle food insecurity challenges at home.
Always the entrepreneur, Vincent sees an even brighter future ahead for cassava. He believes that developing value add opportunities for the crop would be highly beneficial and, in the future, hopes to invest in value-added processing to become the primary buyer for smallholder farmers. Vincent’s dream is to create a more reliable market and to shift the mindset of farmers to recognize that cassava is a profitable, high-potential crop.
“I serve a big role in the country and in the community and at the end, when I go to my family, my family is living a better life [….] I wish to share it with others,” he says.
For Vincent, being the biggest cassava seed entrepreneur in the province is just the beginning.
AUTHOR
MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Associates)
SOURCE
Originally published on meda.org
PHOTOS
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