Integrated Farming: A Strategy for Socio-Economic Development of Farmers in Sectors of Nyagatare and Gatunda of Nyagatare District

Abstract

This study was undertaken to evaluate and determine the impact of integrated farming system on livestock and crop production, as socio-economic development of farmers in Nyagatare district, specifically in the sectors of Gatunda and Nyagatare. The main purpose of this study was due to current dominance of subsistence farming being practiced on the limited land resources with rapid growing of population which does not match with the economic development of Rwanda, this leads to food security crisis and low social economic development of the Rwandan farmers. The general objective was to determine the contribution of integrated farming system to social economic development of farmers in Nyagatare district of Eastern province. It was conducted in two case studies of Nyagatare and Gatunda sectors. Five cells of Nyagatare sector and four cells of Gatunda sector were selected. The method used to select the sample was purposive sampling, whereby forty one (41) respondents were selected for questionnaires and five (5) administrative staff responsible for agriculture and livestock related activities from local (sector, district and province) to central government level were purposively selected for interviews. The findings of this study revealed that, IFS has to some extent a positive social and economic impact. This initiative has allowed some households to shift from a lower level of poorer to a relatively poor class. The participants in this research declared that IFS has increased their livelihood due to selling surplus milk and increased agricultural production due to manure use. Findings in tables 7-14 showed that through IFS, farmers increased their income from agriculture and livestock. This was due to the increase of crop production and livestock production (milk). Because of income increase, the findings showed that farmers increased their expenditures on food, education and clothing. Also, the quantity of food taken has improved. Though IFS contributed to the welfare of farmers, it was revealed in the figures 6-11 that IFS is not 100% well-practiced by the farmers. Some gaps exist and were identified in the figure 12. The farmers face some challenges in practicing IFS, such as insufficient knowledge and skills due to lack of or inadequate training in Gatunda sector especially, lack of or insufficient water in Gatunda animal and crop diseases, drought in both sectors, to mention but a few. Some strategies to address the challenges were proposed, namely regular training of farmers; increase the number of famers field school facilitators and farmer promoters, and assist the farmers in cow breeding and use of manure.