Kabagali Pineapple Project
Team Hope’s Rwandan partners work with survivors of the 1995 genocide against the Tutsi people. They provide counselling, healthcare, shelter, education and training.
Our most recent project with them aims to improve the income capacity of families and residents in Kabagali and to improve local horticulture. The project is called “The Kabagali Pineapple Project”! And as you might guess, involves growing a lot of pineapples!
We are now 5 months into the 2 year project that is teaching participants how to grow and make an income from this high value crop to support their families. The training phase has been completed and 178 farmers (78% female) have been provided with tools and trained in agriculture and pineapple growing. 20 acres are being used, some even donated by the local government. 712 households, including children, will benefit from the income generated from this amazing initiative.
Both classroom training and extensive practical training have been completed covering pre-planting: erosion control application, land clearing, first ploughing, second ploughing, tillage, levelling and measuring; planting activities: holing, fertilizers application, planting and covering; and post-planting activities including mulching, weeding, fertilizer application, pest and diseases management and harvesting.
Because of their training, each of the farmers also planted vegetables at their own homes for their families.
The pineapple planting has now commenced and the 178 new farmers are waiting for their pineapple yield. The group has been split into 5 cooperatives, each with its own committee. The project has helped the cooperatives to reach out to private sector fruit sales companies to plan the sales of their first harvest.
“We can conclude that through training people received a lot of exposure in the modernised agriculture. Through theoretical and practical experiences, we hope that they gained skills that will improve harvest and their living standards at large. We would like to thank everyone who helped in execution and implementation of the project, Team Hope for funding the project, local government especially Ruhango district, Kabagali for their endeavour involvement and Kabagali farmers for their ownership behavior.”