ReliefWeb

Objective: To improve sustainable access to diversified and sustainable agriculture-based livelihoods.

Key partners: The Ministry of the Environment, Agriculture and Livestock (MINEAGRIE) and its offices in Bubanza, Cankuzo and Ruyigi.

**Beneficiaries reached:**15 810 households.

Activities implemented:

Technical pillar of the Caisses de résilience (CdR) approach

• Established 100 farmer field schools (FFS) benefiting a total of 3 000 households (30 households/FFS).

• Organized three seed fairs in the three targeted provinces benefiting 9 000 vulnerable households (including the 3 000 FFS member households), and an additional 4 300 returnees and host community members, who were provided with vouchers to purchase agricultural inputs.

• Distributed a total of 377 337 kg of seeds (341 178 kg of bean, 31 899 kg of maize, 4 130 kg of groundnut and 130 kg of pigeon pea), 10.3 million sweet potato cuttings, 189 kg of vegetable seeds (amaranth, cabbage, carrot, eggplant, red onion and tomato) and 20 600 hoes to beneficiary households through seed fairs.

• Distributed 5 334 kg of beans seeds and 9 355 kg of maize seeds to 22 producer organizations (1 938 members) and four seed multipliers.

• Distributed 3 600 goats (3 270 females and 330 bucks) and veterinary kits to 1 200 FFS member households.

• Set up a community-based surveillance system as part of the fall armyworm control programme in 17 provinces through the deployment of a pheromone trap network, after capacity building activities involving producers, MINEAGRIE staff and technicians as well as local authorities.

• Established 2 761 home gardens for FFS beneficiaries in order for them to produce their own food.

Financial pillar of the CdR approach

• Established 100 Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA) composed of the 3 000 FFS member households, allowing to mobilize a total of BIF 40 870 255 (GBP 300 894) to be loaned to the member households.

• Rehabilitated socio-economic infrastructures in the three provinces, including 628 km of rural roads and tracks and 89.7 km of keyline dug on productive land; and cleaned 11.5 km of a rainwater drainage canal through the implementation of labour-intensive activities (travaux à haute intensité de main d’œuvre [HIMO]), benefiting the 3 000 FFS member households.

• Supported 568 households through the set-up of income-generating activities (IGAs) such as beekeeping, pig rearing, mushroom cultivation, as well as a restaurant for unemployed young graduates.

Social pillar of the CdR approach

• Established ten women’s welding granaries and distributed 34.8 tonnes of beans to the women’s associations (600 women members).

• Provided FFS beneficiary households with 2 474 hand-washing devices to improve food hygiene.

• Established 100 Nutritional Learning and Rehabilitation Centres (FARN) by 200 trained mamans lumières (beneficiary mothers who have healthy, wellnourished children while being in the same socio-economic conditions as other families with malnourished children) in Cankuzo, Gihanga and Ruyigi.

• Conducted crop and food supply assessments for the 2017C, 2018A, 2018B and 2018C agricultural seasons and two Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analyses.

Results:

Technical pillar of the CdR approach

• Produced up to an estimated 145.5 kg of food (two-month coverage per household); and an estimated production of 250 kg of sweet potato tubers following an average 6-8 month cultivation cycle.

• Produced a total of 1 674 kg of bean seeds and 1 745.5 kg of maize seeds by the producer organizations, who gave part of the production obtained to the FFS.

• Improved beneficiaries’ diets and reduced malnutrition, mainly thanks to the setup of home gardens.

Financial pillar of the CdR approach

• Allowed each VSLA member to generate between BIF 115 119 (GBP 41) and BIF 161 838 (GBP 58) at the end of the two savings and loan cycles.

• Contributed to diversifying beneficiary households’ livelihoods and sources of income by setting up the various IGAs.

• Allowed beneficiaries engaged in HIMO activities to invest half of their income in VSLAs through the purchase of shares and injected a total of BIF 782 770 000 (GBP 280 104) into the local economy.

Social pillar of the CdR approach

• Contributed to the empowerment of female beneficiaries through the establishment of granaries and covered their food needs for one month during the lean season.

• Improved children’s nutrition thanks to the FARN and trained mamans lumières; out of 2 409 malnourished children who were admitted to the FARN, 2 212 recovered.

• Produced 14 information and early warning bulletins on food security and nutrition thanks to the crop and food supply assessment and IPC analyses conducted; and produced and disseminated related food security reports