Donat Twizeyimana, a farmer who lives in Gatore sector in Kirehe District, started growing rice on a small piece of family land at the age of 18.
Today, the 46-year-old father of six is a major supplier of paddy rice to Kirehe Rice Company. His produce averages 1.3 tonnes a season.
Kirehe Rice Company is one of the 29 companies in which Rwanda's sovereign wealth fund, the Agaciro Development Fund (AgDF), has invested. The Fund has a 40 per cent stake in the rice company.
Agaciro bought the shares in 2018 as part of its social impact initiatives.
Last year, the Agaciro Development Fund decided to sell 10 per cent of its shares in the rice firm to rice farmers in the area.
Twizeyimana says the steady market offered by the Kirehe Rice Company has allowed him to expand his farmland, recently acquiring an additional 1.5 hectares.
"It would not have been possible if I did not have a market for my produce," he noted.
Today, he says, he no longer struggles to pay school fees for his children and medical insurance for his family.
Two of his children are in secondary school while four are in primary.
The power of collaboration
Twizeyimana is not alone, neither is he working in isolation. He's one of the farmers who have formed a cooperative of rice out-growers that supplies Kirehe Rice Company.
The COOPRIKA-Cyunuzi cooperative brings together 3,450 farmers and the group has seen a turn in fortunes with steady growth in output. Today, they harvest at least six tonnes of rice from one hectare, up from an average of 2.5 tonnes previously.
Working together has helped the farmers to access loans, fertiliser, agro-chemicals, and improved seeds much easier. And the rice company that buys produce from them has played a crucial role.
The company does not only buy its produce at a relatively good price (Rwf508 a kilo) but also sells 20 per cent of its output (processed rice) to households in the community where it operates at a subsidised price.
"Previously, we used to consume rice which we'd physically grind with a mortar and pestle, but that's in the past now since we get rice from the company at an affordable price," said Xaverine Mukankusi, another member of the rice-growing cooperative.
'Cutting out the middlemen improved incomes'
Mukankusi, who's raising six children of her late sister, says she's managed to take care of them thanks in large part to the cooperative and the Agaciro-funded rice firm that buys her produce.
"I have also managed to build a decent house," she said, adding the company "helped us cut out the middlemen who were buying our produce at giveaway prices."
The partnership between Kirehe Rice Company and the farmers also allows the latter to access improved seed quality, irrigation facilities, and training, which they say has helped improve their produce, both in quality and quantity.
The farmers also pay insurance premiums for their crops to cushion against harsh weather dynamics and other threats.
According to Francis Bushayija, the cooperative leader, they harvest an average of 6,000 tonnes a year.
In recent years they've managed to buy two trucks which they use to transport their produce to the processing plant, he said. They've also built an office for themselves, a general-purpose hall, warehouses, and drying facilities.
"The cooperative was created in 2006 with just 50 members but we've since grown to thousands," he said, adding they grow long and short-grain rice on a combined space of 490 hectares. The farmers are from Kirehe and Ngoma districts.
'Agaciro investment was a game-changer'
The cooperative employs four agronomists, each monitoring designated portions of farmland to ensure good yield, the group leaders said.
"This year, we expect to get dividends from our shares in addition to all the other benefits," said Bushayija.
Furthermore, each member of the cooperative has opened a savings account with Ejo Heza, a pension scheme that mostly targets individuals outside of the formal pension ecosystem. For this, COOPRIKA-Cyunuzi was recently recognised by Ngoma District authorities, and it was also named the best-managed cooperative in Eastern Province in 2022.
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Kirehe Rice Company has created thousands of jobs along the value chain, while the financial backing from Agaciro Development Bank helped the firm maintain a profitability rate of 110% over the last five years, according to its managing director Protogene Ndahayo.
"Agaciro Development Fund has turned around our fortunes," he said. "Performance has significantly improved and we expect to see even stronger gains going forward, with farmers also set to reap big from their 10 per cent shareholding."
The farmers have also expressed interest in eventually buying all the remaining shares owned by Agaciro, he added.
The factory processes 6,000 tonnes of paddy rice every year and its managers have set sights on reaching 9,000 tonnes soon.
"The arrival of Agaciro investment was a game-changer," Ndahayo said. "And farmers have been the biggest winners in all this."
