Internship Report: Rwanda Agricultural Board Research on which key factors influence subsistence farmers in Rwanda

to maintain their radical terraces, Northern province.

An Internship Report by xxxxxxx for the course YEI-70318

Name: Luuk de Vetten

Study Program: Bachelor International Land- and Water Management (BIL)

Student registration number:

Course: YEI-70318

Supervisors: Xxx xxx

Date: 4 June 2012

Page | 1

Table of Contents

Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................... 1

1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 2

2. Professional learning objectives ...................................................................................................... 4

Cultural aspects of land management ...................................................................................................... 4

Farmers’ perception on land and water management problems.............................................................. 5

Linkage farmers with markets ................................................................................................................... 6

3. Personal learning objectives ........................................................................................................... 7

Dealing with the language barrier ............................................................................................................ 7

Professionally working in a team .............................................................................................................. 8

Personal functioning in a foreign country ................................................................................................. 9

4. Future education and career ......................................................................................................... 10

5. Reference List ............................................................................................................................... 11

6. Annex ........................................................................................................................................... 12

Dealing with the language barrier .......................................................................................................... 12

Professionally working in a team ............................................................................................................ 12

Personal functioning in a foreign country ............................................................................................... 12

Page | 2

1. Introduction This report is about my internship in Rwanda at the Rwanda Agricultural Board (RAB), formerly known as

Institute des Sciences Agronomiques du Rwanda (ISAR). This report will first state some general

information of this internship and activities during it in this chapter. In the second and third chapter a

reflection on the professional and personal learning objectives is given. In the Annex you will find the

descriptions of the several levels for the personal learning objectives. Finally, I will conclude with a

discussion on my future education and career. The internship spanned from the fifth of February 2012

until the thirteenth of May 2012 and involved mostly research for my BSc Thesis. I had three supervisors

for my internship: xxx, lecturer of Wageningen University and Research Center (WUR), Dr. xxx, Senior

Researcher of Natural Resource Management (NRM), and at last xxx, Director of NRM Northern Zone

division. My thanks go especially to xxx for his support and conversations. During my internship at RAB I

was part of the NRM team of the Northern Zone division, situated in Musanze.

The city Musanze is also known as Ruhengeri. Musanze is located in the Northern Province and the area

is even for ‘the land of the thousand hills’ a rather hilly scenery. At the moment 80% of the Rwandan

population is involved in agriculture (Bizoza, 2011). The most common crops which are cultivated in the

area are potatoes, beans and maize. The population density is high and ever increasing, which invokes

small land plots and intensive land cultivation. This setting makes good land- and water management

imperative in order to counter land degradation and promote sustainable development in the region.

RAB is a governmental institution which tries to contribute to sustainable development through

agriculture and animal husbandry:

“RAB has the general mission of developing agriculture and animal husbandry through their reform and

using modern methods in crop and animal production, research, agricultural extension, education and

training of farmers in new technologies” (MINAGRI 2012).

Within this frame I researched which key factors influence farmers to maintain radical terraces, which

are also known as bench terraces. This research is done with the intention that policies can be adjusted

and informed actions can be taken to make sure that (future) radical terraces are as effective as possible

over time. Implementing radical terraces with grass strips is an ongoing strategy of the government to

prevent erosion and preserve soil nutrients. To obtain the data for the research several activities were

undertaken. In the first stage of the internship a research proposal was written and adjusted for

approval. After approval, a questionnaire was made of variables, selected from literature by discussions,

to get the primary data. Furthermore, a methodology was made to assess the level of maintenance. In

the second stage the fieldwork was carried out: Interviews with forty farmers were done and field

observations of vegetation cover, damages, the design, and the total farm area were made.

Furthermore, the slope was measured and soil samples were acquired for lab analysis. These activities

were done in several locations of the Northern Province to get representable and diverse data. In the

third stage of the internship photos were made of every soil sample, after two or more weeks of drying,

to visualize the structure and color of the soils. This was done as a backup for when it would be

impossible to analyze the samples in the lab or something would go wrong. In the lab I have tested the

samples for pH in the lab with the help of two other internees. Soil data on the organic carbon will be

Page | 3

given later by RAB when the samples are further tested in the lab of the Higher Institute of Agriculture

and Animal Husbandry (ISAE), though this seems to be a problem at the moment. The photos were not

further used for the research, but are available. Lastly, a start of the analysis for my BSc Thesis was made

with SPSS, but not completed within the internship. This whole process involved a lot of time,

arrangements, administration and other practicalities, but will not be discussed further in this chapter.

Other activities within RAB contain under more; helping colleagues with cost-benefit calculations,

enhancing computer skills, team activities as sports and the celebration of Labor Day. Other visits and

activities outside of RAB include:

- Visiting an open day of several institutions related to education, woman empowerment,

development works, agricultural activities, water supply and others. An example is a project of

Netherlands Development Organization (SNV), a Dutch organization mostly subsidized by the

Dutch government, which is successfully supplying safe drinking water for several villages.

- Participation of a workshop organized by the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF), together with

governmental institutions related to agriculture. Some activities were presented by the

institutions for feedback, as I did for my research. My main job in this workshop was secretary.

The main goal of the workshop, which took several days, was to found a Land Care Forum (LCF).

Land Care originates from Australia and uses a bottom-up approach and social capital as main

spear points for development. LCF should further encourage collaboration between institutions

and farmers on all levels to avoid unnecessary duplication of work. At the end of the workshop

the participants agreed to found LCF in Rwanda.

- Visiting one of the projects at the rice fields in the southern province. This specific project targets

to change the marshlands to rice fields. The change is mostly done by the farmers themselves,

but encouraged by the Rwanda Development Board (RDB). These specific rice fields were

recently made and located next to the Akagera River, and are rain fed. Irrigation works will start

when the harvests turn out to be a success, so that also in the dry period rice can be cultivated.

- The Rusomo waterfalls at the border of Tanzania and Rwanda. The waterfalls are a part of the

Akagera River. The immense loads of sediments flowing through the river indicate that a lot still

needs be done to counter erosion and nutrient losses. Also, international collaboration of the

East African Community (EAC) will try to create energy from the waterfalls.

- Akagera Park and surroundings: the area of this national park is decreased to half its size over

the years, as the area is sacrificed for farmland as solution for the increasing population and

fugitives who are returning to the area after 1994. This makes that the newly claimed farmland

had less time to develop agriculturally. The redistribution of the farmland that followed also

created tensions due to the differences in culture and on land rights between the original and

new farmers. At the moment there is a land registration program in place in order to prevent

these problems in the future and to make it more attractive to invest in the land.

- Examples of more general activities to get an insight of Rwanda: visiting markets, reading

newspapers, visiting of different kinds of religious and cultural activities and sites, visiting

(national) memorials of the genocide of 1994.

Page | 4

2. Professional learning objectives

Cultural aspects of land management The goal was to learn about how the inheritage system of Rwanda plays a role within agriculture. In my

study I have often heard of inheritage systems where the land was divided to every son, which causes

problems as the land becomes fragmented and too small. This kind of inheritage system is also in

Rwanda in place. With small plots it is harder to make profits or even produce enough food for the

family. Combined with the immense population pressure this can be quite a problem. I had no real

starting knowledge on this topic specifically for Rwanda. In this learning objective I wanted to learn how

Rwanda as society looks at this problem. If it is considered as a problem and how do they want to change

this (or which steps are already taken).

For this topic I am satisfied with how much I learned. I mostly gathered information by talking with

farmers and people working at agricultural related institutions, combined with reading newspaper and

literature. Especially reading the newspaper gave me a lot of information on almost any subject. Most of

the people told me that the current land fragmentation is a big problem in Rwanda, as it is hard to

produce enough and escape the circle of poverty. However, the farmers and policy makers are becoming

more and more aware of this problem.

As a solution of this problem the farmers often work together. Boundaries of plots are sometimes not

physically visible and indicated by for instance a big tree. An advantage of this is for example that the

construction of terraces is easier. A lot of cooperatives are formed so that several things like institutional

access, planting, building etc. are easier. This can be seen very well with especially cash crops like tea and

coffee. Also cooperatives can get loans easier at the banks (as land and production is bigger) and if one

farmer has a bad year he may be compensated. Still, the population growth remains a problem, however

men and women are becoming more aware of the importance of family planning and birth control.

On a more macro level, policies are formed to promote education and the importance of family planning.

One other strategy of the government in Rwanda is to increase the pull factor of the city. By investing in

good housing, creation of jobs in the service and industry sectors, better salaries, etc., the government

tries to attract rural people to the city and promote urbanization. This also reduces dependency on

agriculture. This way the government, controversially, solves a bit of this specific problem in rural areas

by investing in the city.

Claiming land for agricultural purposes in the Akagera Park are another solution of the Rwandan

Government against the increasing population and fugitives coming back from 1994. Close to 50% of this

safari park is changed into farmland after the genocide. However, the land reforms in this area and the

surroundings caused a lot of local conflicts between farmers. Currently, land right registrations are made

to avoid problems of ownership in the future. Making extra land available seems to me only a short-term

solution, as at a certain moment you are out of available land. Also the economical (tourism) and

ecological services of Akagera Park and other areas as forests etc. should not be underestimated.

Page | 5

Farmers’ perception on land and water management problems Often farmers have different perceptions than scientists and/or engineers concerning land and water

related problems. They may have more practical problems, other experiences or problems where

scientists have never thought of. It is important to get to know how the farmer thinks as participation in

projects is often the key of success. As an incentive to let the farmers participate, it is logical to tackle

first their problems, and from there maybe move up to more abstract problems. On the question what

their main problem is, most Rwandan farmers directly answer with: “a lack of money” (poverty).

However, my physical appearance as a white (and thus rich in farmers’ view) man may have sometimes

invoked this answer.

Still, I believe this is indeed a main problem when countering land and water problems. Sometimes other

answers are given as a lack of fertilizers, building materials and such, but being unable to buy these

things can be directly related to the real problem: the lack of money. These problems turns into a vicious

cycle since these materials are needed to increase crop productivity and/or relieve poverty, while it is

hard to get these materials when you are poor. While the governmental institutions mostly focus on

increasing crop productivity, there are also policies in place to relieve poverty. A great example is the

‘One cow per family policy’, in which cows are distributed for free by the government to poor farmers.

This governmental project is received with much enthusiasm, as the ownership of a cow is a traditional

symbol of wealth. Some virtues of the cow are the provision of milk, meat and manure. Additionally, it is

easier for farmers to accept to grow grass as sustainable land management (SLM) practice as it functions

as food for the cattle. Side effects are the increase in cow prices (as the demand of the government is

high) and the overproduction of milk. Also, the delivery from the government of cows, lime, seeds, roof

materials and others invokes that the farmer becomes less independent and he will think that it is the

job of the government to get them out of poverty rather than themselves. This is one interesting

discussion: Do you as institution provide materials to try to break the circle of poverty (faster), but make

the farmer depend on you? Or do you do nothing so that farmers will do their best themselves and have

a higher feeling of ownership? This is also true when investing for long term solutions: do you try to help

the farmers or not? The main school of thought is that farmers should do these things themselves as

much as possible, but if you want to quickly develop areas institutions often have to intervene. Another

item is that farmers care about a high production on the short term. Sometimes it is hard to convince

farmers to invest in longer term solutions, like terraces, when the advantages are not quickly visible and

need a lot of labor input. Therefore it is almost always true in Rwanda that if you see terraces, that they

are built by the government. In my research I went to five sites, of which only one (Gicumbi) was not

constructed by governmental incentives (and I actually selected this site beforehand for this reason).

Lastly, I found that most farmers just liked that someone was listening to their story, especially when

visiting more remote areas. I heard from some researchers that farmers sometimes do not like to

participate, because they often do not get any feedback of the research or any other encouragement.

Also in my research I heard often the comment or request for feedback. Sadly, I have to say that my stay

in Rwanda was too short to do this and therefore contributed to this image. I think this shows that there

is some distance to cover between researchers and farmers in communication on local level.

Page | 6

Linkage farmers with markets When farmers produce enough to sell at the market, there might not be a good infrastructure to

transport their products to the market or there is no market at all. Without market opportunities nearby

farmers stay in the same situation and may not invest in agriculture due to a lack of money or low

profitability. I wanted to understand in which degree accessibility to markets is a problem for subsistence

farmers in Rwanda and how this problem can be changed. Honestly, I think I could have learned more

about this problem as I did. First of all it seemed not too big a problem when I was there, maybe because

the dense population makes the number of markets naturally higher. I also have to say that most of my

visits to farmers were done closely to roads, so I may not have a good view on the linkage of farms with

markets when they live in very remote areas. However the road network in Rwanda is very dense, with

the main national roads being close to perfect, while local roads are not. Naturally, the bigger markets

are in or near the bigger cities and the smaller markets close to villages.

Not everywhere there is a big market and thus the availability of cars and money for the expensive petrol

is important when going to these bigger markets. On local level a lot of cooperatives are formed by

farmers to transport their goods to the market and get the materials they need. Still, most people are

going on foot on their own to the markets and thus the main rule is: how remoter the area how harder it

gets. Still, at the moment it seems more a problem of a high production: a lot of food is for own

consumption. There are also traders who buy from local farmers and go to the markets to make small

profits, and/or adding value to the products. Adding value can simply be done by for example cutting

sugarcane in smaller pieces with a machete, and selling them for slightly higher prices.

On national level the government increases the quantity and quality of the crops by the distribution of

high quality seeds, projects as the ‘Crop intensification program (CIP)’, genetic modification and other

initiatives. Policies are changing as the government wants to increase exportation. Furthermore, it tries

to create a good climate for (foreign) investors and develop value-adding and processing companies for

agricultural goods to increase the economy. At the moment the main international export products are

tea and coffee, while the remaining products are used for own consumption or exports on lower levels.

Page | 7

3. Personal learning objectives

Dealing with the language barrier In Rwanda the local people speak Kinyarwanda. In addition to this people also regularly speak French

and/or English. However, even the educated people often only speak one of these languages. The stay

was too short to learn Kinyarwanda and French properly and in the future I might be going to other

countries with other languages. Therefore it is important to learn how to deal with language barriers.

One of the easiest ways to deal with the language barrier was just to ask somebody to translate for me.

For my fieldwork I had an internee of RAB who translated for me, still sometimes there was some

confusion. Outside of the fieldwork, when I knew nobody who spoke English and Kinyarwanda

personally, I just asked someone else to translate for me. Preferably I targeted a person with good

clothing, as the more wealthy people are often also better educated. Nowadays, children attending

school are also taught English. Through their children adults often have learned some simple words, but

it is still hard to communicate. Even with highly educated persons the vocabulary is sometimes limited.

Therefore it was necessary just to stay calm and to try it with different words. When talking on the

telephone sometimes there also was confusion. This was for example the case when I called with the

Rwanda Development Board. As solution I just went to their office to speak with them face to face, as it

seems to get clear a lot quicker when you are there physically.

My more daily life also involved dealing with the language barrier. I was staying within a small house of

RAB, where a cook helped with the food and cleaning. Being there on my own for most of the week, it

was sometimes hard to communicate with somebody who only speaks Kinyarwanda without the help of

a translator. In time I learned a few basic words in Kinyarwanda so that in combination with non-verbal

communication I could make myself clear in simple conservations. However, when I tried more complex

conservations it became far more difficult. For example, one time I wanted to tell him that I visited a

friend and ate sugarcane with him for the first time. The next morning I suddenly got sugared cookies as

breakfast…

So when I look to the starting position I gave myself (level 2) and the several levels as indicated in the

Annex, I now give myself level 4: ‘Can make himself quite understandable, easy going’. As stated in my

personal learning objectives I aimed for level 5, but I am still happy with myself on the progress I made

during the internship. Level 5 involved complicated conservations, but I think I illustrated that I’m not yet

on this level. Also, to get to level 5 one should simply try to learn more of the vocabulary of the locally

spoken language, as otherwise it is near impossible to make yourself clear. In case that I should return to

Rwanda for a long stay, this is certainly something I like to do.

Page | 8

Professionally working in a team For my internship I worked within the NRM team of RAB. However, I spend most of my time working on

my own research and therefore did not collaborate too much within the team. Still, I think the time that I

spend in the team I cooperated nicely with them. For the NRM department I mostly helped with

arranging some materials like GPS, paper etc. Also, I helped with some computer problems and with cost

benefit calculations as the team had little experience on this. In return I also asked for feedback from

them on my questionnaire and research.

I did the fieldwork with only one person, my translator. At the start of the fieldwork he questioned the

farmers, while I helped him when it was unclear or when I thought he misinterpreted a question. After a

while he had some experience with the questionnaire, so I could start with observations during the

questionnaire. At the end of each interview I checked the answers and sometimes asked questions to

make sure he questioned in the right way and the answer was correct. It stayed necessary to control the

answers during the whole research, as sometimes he could get sloppy. Still, this worked fine for us. Also

he was often (very) late so sometimes I had to make sure he would be there when we had a tight

schedule. Furthermore, I worked together with another internee and one employee in the lab on the pH

measurements. The boss of the lab first helped to organize things, and after this it worked fluently. At

first it felt a bit strange to be working with the internees, as I was the one to direct them what to do

while they were five or more years older than me, but it worked out well.

I also collaborated as secretary in the workshop of ICRAF. I could give not too much input since I knew

little about the organizational structures on national level within Rwanda. Most of the time they spoke

Kinyarwanda, but I managed to find someone that was willing to translate for me Additionally, I naturally

participated in team activities as Labor Day, memorial week, sport activities and such.

To summarize, I think I progressed from level 3 to level 4: ‘Cooperates nicely and provides quite some

input, adds in some extent to positive atmosphere’. I aimed for level 5 but I think I have not been able to

provide a lot of input, as I have not spend that much time with multiple persons in a team as I liked. Still,

when I worked in a team I felt good and everyone else was also fine.

Page | 9

Personal functioning in a foreign country I have been already a few times in Africa, but never alone and having some responsibility. My general

feeling is that I enjoyed it; however it would have been easier when there would have been a colleague-

student for talks etcetera. I learned a lot about the history, culture and more, mostly just by fieldwork,

conversations, television and reading background information. At the end of the internship I also

traveled around Rwanda and saw, even within this small country, differences in culture. It made me

aware that one cannot think that he understands how people think in one place because he has been to

another. Therefore it is hard to really understand all cultural aspects, still, I feel satisfied.

The previous paragraph I said I would have liked that there would have been another student with me.

Of course, I made some friends in Rwanda, but the thing is that they are for example often older, already

have families or live half of the time in another area. In the evenings and weekends this sometimes

would make me feel a bit lonely if I had nothing to do or none to talk to (except for the cook). To counter

this I sometimes visited people or did some activities, but I think if you are there just on your own also

adds to the understanding of yourself. However, next time I would prefer to be with somebody as it can

make things easier.

During my stay I had several talks with local people and one thing I noticed from myself that I am quite

happy to have a chat with them. This can be depicted by a man who said to me (freely interpreted): “You

are a real gentleman. You actually take your time to talk with me! Other umuzungu’s often don’t do

that”. I felt quite proud when I heard this. Still, when time progressed I sometimes ignored people as

former experiences told me that they also often talk to you because they want money. I feel a bit badly

about this, but it is hard to recognize who is only talking to you because he wants money and who is truly

just interested in you.

Other problems with some practical issues you probably will always encounter: waking up due to a

dripping roof above your bed, no showers, cold showers, food, African time management and more. One

of things of which I was happy about was that I not have been really sick during my stay. Only a little bit

in the end during and after I travelled around Rwanda. Another thing I want to highlight is the trouble

with my visa. I had some problems with it because my stay was longer than 90 days, not originally having

a tourist visa (but business) and misinformation from the embassy in the Netherlands. It took a lot of

trouble and time (and money), but maybe it was also good to understand how foreigners can feel in

greater extent about the administration when going/being in the Netherlands. And at a certain moment

you just think ‘Go with the flow’. In the end I think that there were some little problems, but nothing I

could not overcome. My starting position I estimated as level 3. As I already said at the start I feel

satisfied, and I think I achieved my goal (level 5) here: ‘Is able to function in other countries and can

improvise during unforeseen conditions. Understands differences between cultures but still does not

know all the countries customs yet’.

Page | 10

4. Future education and career When I get sufficient marks for my internship and BSc Thesis, I will be graduating for my bachelor

International Land- and Water Management. So now it is the time to decide what to do in the next few

years and/or think even beyond. I looked up some other studies at Wageningen University and other

universities, but decided that I want to continue my study in land- and water management. Simply put, I

like the multidisciplinary approach which makes it nice and challenging, and my Internship only

strengthened me in my choice on this.

So with MSc International land- and water management (MIL) as base, I want to further specialize in

Land Degradation and Development. It was a though choice, but I prefer not to work on a high policy

level like you do with Integrated Water Management. For irrigation and water Management I feel I

already have naturally quite some technical and mathematical understanding. During the past few years,

I always preferred Land Degradation and Development over Water Management. Even in my list of

activities and learning goals you can see that I prefer land topics rather than water topics. However, it

was a hard choice, as I think that studying water management gives more job opportunities in the

Netherlands as water is more a main topic here. Ideally, I want to have a job in the Netherlands which

also gives me the prospect of working in foreign countries. I like to work in foreign countries, but I would

prefer not to be in foreign countries for multiple years on my own. As main occupation I would like to be

an engineer or something alike, so that there is also a physical product of my efforts. This in combination

with evaluation so that old or new interventions can be further improved. I prefer to work on ‘hardware’

rather than ‘software’, even with my understanding that one cannot work without the other. To be ‘just’

a researcher or policy maker, I would have the feeling that I would not have made a lot of difference in

the project area, except for adding to the already enormous pile of (unread) literature and/or rules. Not

that doing research is a bad thing, not at all, it is elementary if you want to do some good. But when you

are ONLY doing research, there will not be any improvements quickly. For example, I did some research

during my internship on terraces, but when I finished my Thesis about it I hardly think it will have any

real impact in the area.

As you may have noticed, I am already talking about job opportunities while there might or might not be

the possibility of doing a PhD as well. However, at the moment I would like to work and get some (more)

real work experience rather than doing a PhD. The people I worked with during my internship in Rwanda

may think I am crazy to not do this when the opportunity arises, but this is how I feel at the moment

about this topic (Of course, my opinion may change in the future).

4930 words.

Page | 11

5. Reference List Bizoza, A.R. (2011). Farmers, institutions and land conservation: Institutional economic analysis of bench

terraces in the highlands of Rwanda. Wageningen: Wageningen University.

MINAGRI (2012). Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) mission and responsibilities. Site:

http://www.minagri.gov.rw/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=170&Ite

mid=299&lang=en Visited on 4 June 2012. Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Rwanda.

Page | 12

6. Annex

Dealing with the language barrier Level 6: Can make himself completely understandable in the most complicated conservations. Level 5: Can make himself quite understandable in complicated conservations, easy going. Level 4: Can make himself quite understandable, easy going. Level 3: Can make himself quite understandable, but lose sometimes his temper when the conservation gets difficult. Level 2: Can make himself quite understandable in simple conservations, but lose sometimes his temper. Level 1: Even small talk is very difficult to achieve, gets angry at conservation partner for not understanding him

Professionally working in a team Level 6: Fluently cooperates in team and is very involved in decision making, supports other team members in difficulties and is able to stimulate other team members. Level 5: Fluently operates in team and provides a lot of input and, adds to positive atmosphere Level 4: Cooperates nicely and provides quite some input, adds in some extent to positive atmosphere Level 3: Cooperates sufficiently and provides quite some input, does not really add atmosphere Level 2: Can sufficiently cooperate with other team members, but still sometimes creates a negative atmosphere Level 1: Cannot cooperate with other team members and ruins positive atmosphere between himself and other team members. Does not accept other people’s opinions or ideas if they differ from own opinion

Personal functioning in a foreign country Level 6: Is perfectly able to function in foreign county and to improvise during unforeseen conditions. Enjoys interactions with the countries’ people and respects cultural differences. Level 5: Is able to function in other countries and can more or less improvise during unforeseen conditions. Understands differences between cultures but still does not all the countries customs yet and may offend people. Level 4: Is interested in other cultures and actively tries to discover more than only the touristic places and the streets next to these places. He does not avoid simple encounters with people. Level 3: Is able to take care of himself, but can still be naive. Is interested in other cultures but only when he conveniently encounters it. Level 2: Will be able to finish stay in unknown country, however does not enjoy interacting with different people and culture. Underestimates the potential dangers and prefers to stay in the hotel and western or touristic restaurants. Level 1: Is not able to take care of himself and becomes seriously homesick. Has a negative attitude towards unknown practices and people and thus avoids interaction with the countries’ people and culture. He will not be able to finish a long stay in unknown country.