Minani Melchoir Builds Dream Home

CATALIST

Burundi • DR Congo • Rwanda

Catalyze Agricultural Intensification for Social and Environmental Stability

a project for the great lakes region of central africa

Success Story

Smallholder farmer Minani Melchior builds his dream home in Burundi after learning and applying effective agricultural practices

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hen the CATALIST project first began working with the Rwizumwimbu, or “Increase Production,” farmers’ association in 2007, Minani Melchior was unable to produce sufficient yields from his 40 ares of land in his small colline in Burundi to feed his family of four. Today, seeing the house he is building, his neighbors describe him as “rich.”

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inani recalls the struggle to get enough to eat even once each day, saying, “My family didn’t have enough food and my wife was pregnant. I had to borrow two kilos of flour and two kilos of beans from a local merchant and agree to pay him back at harvest time.” Since that difficult time, his life has improved significantly.

Minani attributes the economic progress in his life to his recent adoption of improved farming techniques. “In many ways, CATALIST taught me how to cultivate,” he says. He considers this training to have made him a more knowledgeable farmer, able to take advantage of his environment by using recognized soil fertility management practices such as allowing one parcel of land to lay fallow each season, crop rotation and seeding in line.

Working with CATALIST, he also learned to correctly blend organic and mineral fertilizers from Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) training, as well as its proper application for potatoes. When harvest time arrived he learned how to identify and save the best potatoes for the next season’s seed.

Rwizumwimbu members received sufficient fertilizer and seed potatoes through the CATALIST program to plant 10 ares per farmer, the amount of land required for membership in the cooperative. Minani learned that initially half the cost of these inputs would need to be repaid to CATALIST, but eventually all of the loan would need to be reimbursed. The total cost to him would be $61.

Following a season of hard work, he harvested an impressive 2 tons, 200 kilos for his first ISFM potato crop. After repaying the loan for inputs, he calculated that he had earned $300 in profit. “I was able to buy a small cow, two goats and two sheep, and also three sacks of cement for constructing a house,” he reports. With average annual incomes in Burundi below $200, he is very satisfied with his results.

When the next planting season arrived, Minani received CATALIST’s support to grow wheat. His family kept about 50 kg of the harvest for their own consumption and another 50 kg for seed. After repaying the $20 loan, he realized a profit of $41 from selling the surplus, money he put towards a roof for the family’s new house.

In 2009, with a loan of eight kg of seed and fertilizer for $15, Minani’s family was able to earn $41 by selling their excess produce. Construction on the new house continues, but his dreams will not end with the completion of the house, he says. “I want my children to go all the way to university – to become agronomists and help their parents produce even more.”

CATALIST/SEW Henk Breman (Chief of Party) | This is a publication of the IFDC-implemented CATALIST Project. | www.ifdc-catalist.org | ifdcrwanda@ifdc.org Funding is generously provided by the Netherlands Directorate-General for Development Cooperation (DGIS).

PROJECT HEADQUARTERS

BURUNDI OFFICE

CONGO DRC OFFICE

HELPAGE CRGL

IFDC Rwanda 3064 - Akanyaru Street, Kiyovu P. O. Box 6758 - Kigali, Rwanda Telephone: +250 551 042 11

IFDC Burundi 3 - Bweru Street Rohero II P. O. Box 1995, Bujumbura Telephone: +257 22 25 78 75 +257 22 27 35 66

IFDC Congo Q. Himbi, Goma Telephone: +243 813 134 697

Helpage Regional Headquarters B.P. 6682 - Ville de Kigali Rwanda Telephone: +250 (0)25 25 34 87 +250 (0)25 25 34 88