Wednesday, 30th March 2022, the Albertine Rift Conservation Society (ARCOS) through its WEFE Nexus project, provided 100 improved cookstoves, 10042 fruit trees and vegetable seeds to project beneficiaries in Rutsiro district. This initiative came in to facilitate project beneficiaries, among other things, to reduce biomass energy dependency and indoor pollution; promoting of vegetable farming as well as fruits production.
It is important to recall that the WEFE (Water Energy Food and Ecosystem) Nexus project kicked off back in December 2021. This project is being implemented by the Albertine Rift Conservation Society (ARCOS), the International Council for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF), Rwanda Water Resources Board (RWB) and Rutsiro district, with the support from the European Union and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through the German development agency, GIZ.
Jean Paul Kubwimana, WEFE Nexus Project Manager at ARCOS, in his opening remarks said that giving 100 improved cookstoves, 10042 fruit trees and vegetable seeds to 1038 households was a milestone contribution to building community resilience to climate change along the Koko River. Jean Paul added that, the provided 17 000 agroforestry trees will play a big role in soil conservation measures for the catchment restoration and protection.
It is worth mentioning that, on this occasion, ARCOS provided 3 avocado trees, 3 tomato trees and 3 passion per household.
Marceline Muhawenimana, a resident of Gihango, blissfully said that the received boons will help her to reduce the quantity of firewoods as main source of energy and will improve her livelihood through the production of vegetables together with fruits for home consumption plus market purposes.
The Rutsiro district which was represented by Servelien Turamye, urged Gihango’s community to take care of these cookstoves and provided fruit trees. “We look forward to seeing every household with an improved livelihood in the near future”. said Servelien.
Ultimately, de facto, the WEFE Nexus project aims to enhancing Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems (WEFE) Nexus and climate resilience along Koko (Rwanda) and Lwiro (DRC) Rivers of the Lake Kivu Basin, through nature-based community enterprises.
