Ruhimbi village’s farming cooperative

Community Background

Ruhimbi is located in Northwestern Rwanda, close to the Ugandan border. The community is comprised of 156 households, all of whom face a number of development challenges. During their microgrant planning meetings, the community agreed that a lack of consistent income and widespread food insecurity were their biggest concerns.

Community-Designed Solution

Ruhimbi village has formed an agriculture cooperative and plans to plant maize. They are going to buy a large plot of communal land and farm together as a village. They intend to distribute some of the harvest to each household to combat hunger, and they will sell the rest of the crop at the local market. The money from selling the maize will go in to a communal saving account. In order to make sure their project is sustainable, Ruhimbi village plans to use some of the money in the account to purchase additional land and seed. The rest will be used to pay for health insurance for members of the community. They hope to diversify to also growing potatoes after the first growing season.