Sunflower (Ibihwagari) Project

Country: Rwanda
Project details
Services:
Access to finance
Capacity building
Market assessment
Value chain development
Crops:
Oil crops

Sunflower (Ibihwagari) Project, Rwanda, 2022-2025

Donor:

Achmea Foundation

Goal 

The project’s goal is to improve the resilience and livelihood of smallholder sunflower farmers in Rwanda by increasing crop productivity and farmers’ access to markets and finances.

What we do

In cooperating with micro-finance Institutions (MFIs), the Rwandan Agriculture Board (RAB), sunflower oil processing plants, and selected cooperatives, EUCORD aims to:

  1. Connect sunflower processors to local farmers
  2. Help identify and implement good agricultural practices to ensure better return on investment for farmers
  3. Improve value chain by organizing sunflower farmers into cooperatives, strengthening their production capacity and their ability to connect with larger markets

Accomplishments

  • 6,298 farmers including 51% women from 32 cooperatives in the project intervention area trained in sunflower production, GAP and post-harvest handling techniques.
  • 32 cooperative management committees trained on financial management and marketing with 43% being women.
  • 309 hectares of land cropped in 2024 B season. Cumulative of 517 hectares of land cropped under sunflower since project start.
  • Sunflower project extension to Burera and Gicumbi district (Northern Province) under the EC funded PROFARM Project. This highlights its successful scaling and collaboration with other initiative focused on food security and sustainable agriculture and signifies potential for wider impact and knowledge sharing.