Adeline Umukunzi stands in a field in Musanze District picking nutritious mushrooms from inside a small covered structure. The structure provides an environment with moisture, low light, and humidity, which enables these umbrella-shaped fungi to thrive.
Umukunzi, who is now 28-years-old started growing mushrooms in 2018 after completing secondary school, with just 10 mushroom spawns, locally known as "imigina," which she bought at Rwf5,000 and grew in a basin filled with soil.
ALSO READ: Women take lead in fight against hunger, malnutrition
Mushroom spawns can be likened to seeds for crops, and Umukunzi said one can produce some 400 grams in a three-month life span. "I used to sell the mushrooms to neighbors and increased investment as they expressed appreciation for them," she said.
Umukunzi's mushroom farming began in 2019 and requires a small space, giving yield in a short period of only seven days after planting.
Now, Umukunzi uses 7,800 mushroom spawns valued at Rwf3.9 million every season (three months), which she grows inside 26 small wooden housing structures, with one having 300 mushroom spawns.
Between 100 and 120 kilos of mushrooms can be produced from one housing structure, which implies between a total of 2,600 and 3,120 kilos in the 26 of them in three months. As she sells a kilo of mushroom at Rw2,000, the overall three-month sales are estimated at Rwf5.2 million - Rwf6.2 million.
Umukunzi gets at least between Rwf200,000 and Rwf250,000 profit from mushroom sales per month, after deducting all expenses such as investments and paying employees.
"I was able to complete university education and support my family as a result of income from mushroom farming," she said, adding that she has nine permanent employees who take care of her farm and also supplies mushrooms to some hotels and restaurants in Musanze District.
Umukunzi observes that "mushrooms have a great contribution to nutrition because they contain nutrients that a mother needs from pregnancy," indicating that the crop is rich in iron like that found in iron supplement drugs that pregnant mothers get from health facilities to prevent anemia. For vegetarians, they make mushroom samosa upon request.
In Nyagatare district, Natural Fruit Drier Company Ltd, Managing Director, Mercianne Uwamwezi said that her firm began with focusing on farm production, growing fruits on three hectares, and producing about three tonnes per month.
Now, it is focusing on buying produce from farmers and processing it, and only growing fruits on half a hectare. It processes different fruits, including mangoes, passion fruits, pineapple, as well as vegetables.
"Through processing, we mix all those fruits and package them into one bottle, such that a consumer can get all their nutrients at once," she said, adding that transforming fresh fruits into powder helps to keep it safe for long and tackle post-harvest losses in the process. The firm has a machine that dries 1.2 tonnes of fruit per day, and another that can extract juice from 1.2 tonnes per day, and a machine that can grind 500 kilos per day. The firm is going to work with over 50 cooperatives counting over 600 members, from which it will be buying fruits and vegetables to meet its demand.
In Rubavu District, Charlotte Uwimana is an Irish potato farmer but also grows other crops such as beans, maize, vegetables, and fruits. She started growing potatoes on one and a half hectares but her farming business gradually grew to about five hectares and a half today.
Also, she said, production went up from 13 tonnes per hectare a season in 2013 to 21 tonnes per hectare a season currently, explaining that the development was based on factors such as increased farming skills for this crop, and proper use of both manure and chemical fertilisers, as well as quality seeds, among others.
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"With the availability of enough potatoes, vegetables, and fruits, among others, we are able to contribute to addressing malnutrition," she said.
According to the Rwanda Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA) 2021, 20.6 per cent of the population in Rwanda was food insecure, while about 32.4 per cent of under five-year children were stunted (chronically malnourished).
ALSO READ: Stunting in Rwanda drops to 33 per cent
The fifth Rwanda Population and Housing Census report conducted in 2022, revealed that 67.8 per cent of Rwandans had occupations in agriculture in 2022.
It showed that the percentage of agricultural occupations was higher among females than males, as there were 77 per cent of females engaged in agricultural activities compared to 58 per cent of males as of August 2022.
