Embedding Organic Farming

Organic agriculture aims to produce food while establishing an ecological balance to preserve soil fertility. Organically grown agricultural produce can be sold as much higher prices than traditionally grown food.
EU-EAC MARKUP, through Oxfam Rwanda, is supporting horticulture farmers to adopt organic farming by providing them with skills and capacities for on-farm compost making.
Farmers have been supported through the project’s implementing partners COCOF, DUHAMIC-ADRI and DUTERIMBERE to use raw organic materials such as crop residues, animal wastes and food waste as fertilizing resources while reducing the use of chemical-based fertilizers.
One of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is its impact on access to essential agricultural inputs such as fertilizers due to reduced farmers’ income and purchasing power. Compost making came therefore as a solution to the difficulty of accessing other types of fertilizers while relying on a sustainable source of raw materials for compost making.
The project promotes the use of on-farm compost among farmers across the project areas as an effective way to save money, reduce the use of chemical fertilizers, and enhance soil quality while achieving higher yield for crops and attaining higher prices when exporting organically grown crops.
Photo credits: Ernest Minani/Duhamic-Adri Field Officer