RWANDA / CLIMATE CHANGE

The weather in Rwanda is becoming more and more unpredictable causing farmers to lose about 40% of their harvests. Now new business hubs are helping farmers adapt to the changing climate, allowing them to store their crops safely and get them to markets. IFAD

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:13
• Production Date: 3 December 2014
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT - IFAD
• Subject Topical: AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; FISHING; AGRICULTURE; ENGINEERING; EDUCATION; CLIMATE CHANGE
• Geographic Subject: RWANDA
• MAMS Id: 1256846

Description

STORY: RWANDA / CLIMATE CHANGE
TRT: 3.13
SOURCE: IFAD
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: KINYARWANDA /ENGLISH /NATS
DATELINE: OCTOBER 2014, KIREHE, RWANDA

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, pull focus, man hoeing maize field
2. Wide shot, farmers hoeing maize field
3. Medium shot, Odette Mukankiko hoeing in maize field
4. Wide shot, farmers hoeing maize field
5. Medium shot, tilt up, boy pouring maize seeds into container
6. SOUNDBITE (Kinyarwanda) Odette Mukankiko, Vice President of Maize Cooperative:
"Because of climate change our yields are lower, and even when it rains the maize doesn’t grow well."
7. Close up hand sowing maize seeds
8. Close up maize seeds falling on ground
9. Medium shot man sowing maize seeds in field
10. Wide shot farmers sowing maize seeds
11. SOUNDBITE (Kinyarwanda) Odette Mukankiko, Vice President of Maize Cooperative:
"We used to start drying the maize in the field, but now it's often raining. When we have good yields and no place to dry them, they will spoil after a month."
12. Wide shot farmers working in maize field
13. Medium shot farmers working in maize field
14. Close up hoeing fields
15. Close up farmer working in maize field
16. Close up hoeing the field
17. Close up farmer hoeing in maize field
18. Medium shot farmers hoeing in maize field
19. Wide shot farmers hoeing in maize field
20. Wide shot men pushing bicycles over dry ground
21. Wide shot women and boy walking through field
22. Wide shot man pushing bicycle with bananas on
23. Wide shot farmers collecting compost
24. Medium shot farmers collecting compost
25. Close up farmers collecting compost
26. SOUNDBITE (English) Janvier Gasasira, IFAD Project Coordinator:
"Farmers also have knowledge. They know and they have some of the answers to different problems. What they need is that capacity to react on time, before it is too late."
27. Extreme wide shot farmers meeting and sharing information under tree
28. Wide shot farmers meeting and sharing information under tree
29. Close up Odette Mukankiko and other farmer in meeting
30. Close up farmer in meeting
31. Medium shot farmers in meeting
32. Close up farmer in meeting
33. Wide shot farmers in meeting
34. Wide shot, pan right to left from truck to storage hub
35. Wide shot tilt down in storage hub
36. Close up bags of maize in storage
37. Wide shot truck driving past processing plant
38. Wide shot men carrying sacks of maize on their heads
39. Wide shot man putting down sack on maize
40. Close up maize running through processor
41. Medium shot maize on conveyer belt
42. Close up placing sacks of grain on conveyer belt
43. Close up sealing sacks of grain
44. Close up stacking sacks of grain
45. Close up milking cow
46. Medium shot Alfred Nsengimana milking cow
47. Close up Alfred Nsengimana milking cow
48. Overhead shot Alfred Nsengimana milking cow
49. SOUNDBITE (Kinyarwanda) Alfred Nsengimana, Milk Farmer:
"When it rains and we have fodder we get about 13 litres of milk a day. But we get much less when we have long dry spells."
50. Close up Alfred Nsengimana with milk canister on his bicycle
51. Medium shot Alfred Nsengimana with milk canister on his bicycle
52. Wide shot farmers on bicycles arriving at milk collecting centre
53. Wide shot farmers carrying milk canister into milk collecting centre
54. Medium shot farmers pouring milk into tank
55. Close up milk poured into tank
56. Close up man rifling through papers
57. Wide shot man writing in receipt book
58. Close up writing in receipt book
59. Wide shot Alfred Nsengimana pushing his bicycle with empty milk canisters on it
60. Wide shot Odette Mukankiko entering her house
61. SOUNDBITE (Kinyarwanda) Odette Mukankiko, Vice President of Maize Cooperative:
"Through maize growing and having access to markets, I started to get more income and I could afford to get the iron sheets to build this house I’m living in."
62. Close up winnowing maize seeds
63. Medium shot Odette Mukankiko winnowing maize
64. Wide shot Odette Mukankiko and daughter winnowing maize in basket
65. Close up Odette Mukankiko's daughter
66. Close up Odette Mukankiko
67. Close up hands cleaning maize seeds

Storyline

The rain here in Eastern Rwanda is almost three weeks overdue. But to the relief of farmers, it is being forecast.So today Vice President Odette Mukankiko has rallied together members of her maize cooperative to start sowing. She is hoping the rainy season will finally kick in and their crop will have enough water to grow.

SOUNDBITE (Kinyarwanda) Odette Mukankiko, Vice President of Maize Cooperative:

“Because of climate change our yields are lower, and even when it rains the maize doesn’t grow well.”

In these rural areas planting cycles have always been determined by the seasons.

But now, Odette says, rain no longer falls when it should and traditional farming practices are failing.

SOUNDBITE (Kinyarwanda) Odette Mukankiko, Vice President of Maize Cooperative:

“We used to start drying the maize in the field, but now it's often raining. When we have good yields and no place to dry them, they will spoil after a month.”

Farmers can now lose up to 40 per cent of harvests due to erratic weather .
And if climate change issues are not addressed quickly, it could cost the country’s agriculture sector up to 300 million dollars a year by 2030. So the International Fund for Agricultural development, or IFAD, and the Rwandan government have teamed up to help minimise these losses. It is part of IFAD’s climate change adaptation programme for small holder farmers.

Coordinating the project is Janvier Gasasira.

SOUNDBITE (English) Janvier Gasasira, IFAD Project Coordinator:

“Farmers also have knowledge. They know and they have some of the answers to different problems.”

To help build that capacity, farmers’ cooperatives are now being equipped with modern facilities, like this one, where crops can be dried and stored safely, whatever the weather.

These centres are also business hubs, linked directly to markets and processing plants, where crops are cleaned, processed and stored professionally.
Business training is provided so farmers can become market players, capable of delivering large quantities of high quality produce to both public and private companies.

But it is not only crops. Milk production too is being affected by climate change, as Alfred Nsengimana says.

SOUNDBITE (Kinyarwanda) Alfred Nsengimana, Milk Farmer:

“When it rains and we have fodder we get about 13 litres of milk a day. But we get much less when we have long dry spells.”

Rising temperatures are also challenging dairy production. If not kept cool, milk can go off in 2 hours. So now, every morning farmers take their milk to a hub. This time a Milk Collecting Centre, where it is stored hygienically and refrigerated. Run by cooperatives, members receive steady incomes from sales and have a loan system set up to help get through scarce periods. Alfred and Odette are now better prepared for unexpected weather events and production is improving.

SOUNDBITE (Kinyarwanda) Odette Mukankiko, Vice President of Maize Cooperative:

“Through maize growing and having access to markets, I started to get more income and I could afford to get the iron sheets to build this house I’m living in.”

This 5 year programme aims to provide facilities and know-how to 155 thousand more people like Odette, enabling farmers to succeed despite a rapidly changing environment.