Karongi District in the fight against high prices of animal feed

Livestock farmers, particularly those rearing small animals in Karongi District, say they are struggling to access animal feed due to its high cost, which undermines their efforts to lift themselves out of poverty.

Karongi is one of the 15 districts supported by the PRISM (Partnership for Resilient and Inclusive Small Livestock Markets Programme) project, which has so far distributed around 9000 small livestock animals including 383 pigs, 7650 chickens, and 901 goats. The project operates in the sectors of Gashari, Murundi, Murambi, Mutuntu, and Ruganda, which are known for widespread poverty due to low agricultural productivity.

Beneficiaries of the livestock say the animals have begun to help them move out of poverty. They are now able to access eggs that improve their nutrition, manure that boosts soil fertility and productivity, and income to address daily challenges.

Eric Turikumwe says, “Chickens are productive animals that can improve livelihoods because they reproduce quickly. They provide manure that helps us farm more efficiently, and they lay eggs which we can sell for income to solve household problems.”

Despite this progress, farmers point out that the high cost of animal feed remains a major obstacle.

Clementine Dusabimana, a poultry farmer from Murambi Sector, explains, “It’s difficult to find poultry feed here because it’s not readily available locally. We often have to source it from far away, which makes it expensive. What would help is a good road network to ease transport.”

Desire Bikorimana adds, “Animal feed is very expensive, and our roads are in poor condition. A kilogram of animal feed reaches us at 800 Rwandan Francs because we get it from Muhanga town. If we had local factories or nearby shops selling it, that would be a great help.”

The high cost of animal feed particularly affects low-income farmers, who are unable to afford livestock since the rising feed prices also drive up the value of the animals.

Karongi District’s Vice Mayor in charge of Economic Development, Julienne Ntakirutimana, says: “We are aware that accessing animal feed in Karongi is difficult, but we have a project that will soon set up an animal feed factory in the district, which will serve the entire Western Province.”

“Although this project is in the pipeline and we’re confident it will happen, in the meantime, we are encouraging local traders to stock animal feed alongside their other products so that residents can access them.”

Ntakirutimana also mentioned that the district is in discussions with the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB) on how to train farmers to produce their own feed.

Additionally, farmers with sufficient means are being encouraged to form cooperatives and purchase feed in bulk, which would reduce transport costs and, ultimately, lower prices.

The Partnership for Resilient and Inclusive Small Livestock Markets Programme (PRISM) Project, funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), is being implemented by the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB) through its SPIU.