Rwanda:USADF Signs Two Grants to Support Food Production in Rwanda
USADF is to support cassava production and processing in Kamonyi District, Rwanda
Kigali – The United States African Development Foundation (USADF) has signed two grants to support food production activities in Rwanda. The grantees are Coopérative de Développement et du Bien-être Famililiale (CDEF) and Coopérative Ituze.
USADF Chairman Jack Leslie stated, “These grants invest in food production in Rwanda while targeting those at the bottom billion by creating jobs and raising people’s incomes.”
CDEF is located in Kimihurura, Gasabo District, Kigali Village. With a membership of 30 people, 73% of whom are women, CDEF works to create jobs for members and provide medical insurance and school fees for children through vegetable production, specifically mushroom. The mushrooms are sold to hotels, restaurants, and individuals. The eighteen month grant will finance equipment, a marketing campaign, best practices training for mushroom production, and develop a business plan.
Based in Kamonyi District, Southern Province, Coopérative Ituze grows and processes cassava both for home consumption and as an income generating activity. Cassava (manioc) was selected because it does better than most other crops in the dry area where Ituze is located.
While the Cooperative is able to produce high quality cassava flour using an already-constructed milling factory, production had been hampered by the delayed installation of electrical power.
Power is now connected, but a lack of working capital to purchase sufficient cassava for continuous production is limiting the potential success of this group.
The primary focus of USADF funding will be help Ituze establish and maintain a crop purchase fund in order to fully utilize the milling equipment in place.
The project will benefit at least 200 small-scale farmers who will earn a living and be able to support their families plus another 800 unskilled workers who provide casual labor in members’ cassava fields.
The Cooperative also supports 31 child-headed households in their community that will benefit from income earned. The five year grant will fund a water system, working capital, training, and equipment.
USADF re-established programming in Rwanda in 2006. Rwanda’s current portfolio stands at seventeen investment projects totaling $3 million.
For more information about the portfolio, please visit the country’s quick source page at http://www.adf.gov/USADF-QuickSourceCountryPortfolioPage-Rwanda.htm
The United States African Development Foundation (USADF) is a United States Government agency dedicated to expanding access to economic opportunities to the most marginalized populations in Africa. Currently USADF operates in 20 African countries. Over the past 25 years, USADF has funded in excess of $200 million in African initiated and led development projects. For more information on USADF, its programs and application guidelines, visit www.usadf.gov.