ERB
Program of Sustainable food security and Nutrition
We promote capacity building of rural producers and actors involved in agricultural and livestock production through access to quality inputs and new production techniques, rural entrepreneurship, agricultural processing while developing the agricultural value chain.
ERB
Key priorities of the Program
Priority 1
Priority 2
Priority 3
Priority 4
Priority 5
Increasing production and productivity of small-farmers
The program is focusing on will focus on key interacted actions that ensure effective productivity.
- Improve the integrated soil fertility management
- Increase the improved seeds production in partnership with the Publics services in charge of quality control
- Strengthen Fertilizer access and application for smallholders ’farmers
- Develop water management and irrigation
- Promote Small agricultural mechanization
- Access to lands and propriety rights for women smallholders farmers
- Contribute to the development of small livestock, fisheries and aquaculture
- Contributing to credit and financing access for small farmers
Promote water management and irrigation to increase food production.
ERB is experiencing in collaboration with its partners, the following kinds of options shall to help smallholders famers enhance the capacities of water management and irrigation :
- Micro-irrigation : ‘Modern’ irrigation technologies, such as sprinklers and micro-irrigation are often seen as one of the keys to increasing food production on smallholders.
- Water storage: it has the greatest potential to deliver the improvements in water management. Storage is a very old technology and is one that has been exploited throughout history. Water storage is often associated with dams, environmental and social problems
- Rainwater harvesting: it is practiced on a small scale around households and home gardens to grow fruit trees, water small livestock, and support fish ponds. Techniques include collecting rainwater runoff to store in small tanks, drums and off-stream storage
- Water lifting: Most smallholder and garden irrigation requires some form of water lifting and these are usually characterized by their energy source, human and animal power, fossil fuels, electricity and renewable energy sources such as sun, wind and water
- Improved rain-fed agriculture: Substantial improvements are possible in rain fed agriculture and the technologies are not new. Integrating soil and water management focused on soil fertility, improved rainfall infiltration, and water harvesting can significantly reduce water losses, improve yields, and water productivity; the strategy is to get ‘more crop per drop’
- ICT in water management: The technique is strange to farmers of Burundi. But the good example does exist in EAC. In Ugandan villages, for example, farmers have access to a wealth of information on the Internet and can call their questions into a free telephone hotline. Burundian farmers shall learn from Uganda this new technique of water management
The development of agricultural value chains aims at adding value to agricultural production and generating employment of youth and women in rural area. Besides, it seeks to develop post-harvesting processes and agribusiness to increase market outlets. To achieve these key goals, in all countries of our intervention, we will focus on the following actions :
- Promotion of farmer’s cooperatives and agricultural entrepreneurship in rural communities
- Building capacities of farmers and Cooperatives/ Associations
- Promote Added value and agri business (Off-farm employment)
- Facilitating the processing, marketing and commercialization
- Contributing in constructing feed roads and other facilities
- Establishing the contract farming and increasing out grower schemes
Contributing to credit and financing access for small farmers
To address the lack of access to credit financing agriculture challenge, we , at the first phase, focus on strengthening the capacities of small holder farmers in the local initiative of own financing.
The Village Saving Loan Associations (VSLA) system has been spearheading in the change of mindset of the smallholders. This approach helps them to rely on their capacity in financing the agricultural production and Agri processing at small scale.
The Program envisions to help the agriculture-based Cooperatives in constructing warehouses or building storage which may offer two advantages: the storage of harvest to avoid losses and the guarantee for the financial institutions through the described system of finance above. We are envisioning developing the program of micro finance for small farmers organized in agricultural cooperatives as well as young people involved in entrepreneurship.
Addressing food insecurity and malnutrition of vulnerable households
We address food insecurity and malnutrition of vulnerable households through integrated actions such as:
- Helping smallholder farmers to diversify into nutrient-rich vegetable and food crops ;
- Promoting gardening/livestock programs in rural communities;
- Promoting targeted School feeding program ;
- Developing the crossing local breeds with high yielding exotic goat breeds; pigs, multi-purpose chicken farming for eggs;
- Promoting nutrition education among poor pregnant women and lactating mothers.
