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Welcome to Rwanda! Land O'Lakes Venture37's virtual touR | March 31, 2022

www.landolakesventure37.org

Hello!

We're so glad you could make it to our virtual tour. Rwanda's a small country, so we're going to see it all today! Hang tight.

Our Rwanda leadership team is here to greet you.

Meet Dennis Karamuzi, Lucia Zigiriza, and Willy Nyirigira.

Meet Louis!

At the Venture37 office in Kigali, Louis has pulled up to give us the tour. Louis speaks seven languages – and he can answer any question you might have about the country.

Let's drive west through the mountains...

Take in the breathtaking view of Lake Kivu! In the distance, we can see the Democratic Republic of the Congo across the lake. In particular, the lake is known for being home to an abundance of sambaza – small, minnow-sized fish, akin to smelt. They are a staple protein in the region.

First stop? Turwanyinzara Cooperative!

On a little peninsula on the lakeshore, Josephine greets us to show us around Turwanyinzara co-operative. In Kinyarwandan, the name of the co-operative means "Let's End Hunger." She’s the president of the co-op, which produces sambaza.

She tells us how our Venture37 colleagues have been working with the co-operative since 2021 to conduct training sessions on topics such as business, financial management, good governance, nutrition and proper fish handling, which has been beneficial for co-op members.

Like Land O'Lakes, Josephine sees the value in a co-operative business model. She tells us it allows its members to pool money, raise capital together, and use their profits for important benefits like health insurance and savings groups.

"Co-operatives are like a family" -Josephine, Turwinyanzara President

Just minutes away from the sambaza co-operative...

an emerging business sits atop the hill.

Joel, the production manager, tells us that Triumvirate started sourcing sambaza from the nearby cooperative in 2022. The business concept? Simple, but innovative: harness the large supply of fish and transform it into a shelf-stable fish flour that can help round out the protein content of meals. Think of it as sustainably sourced protein powder.

Scaling Up 🐟

Our team is helping the business scale up. They're providing in-kind and financial support, including helping Triumvirate get certified by local food safety and quality authorities and conducting consumer preference surveys to pinpoint how customers best like their sambaza flour.

On our way out, we pass by a truck.

It’s Leah, a manager for OX Delivers – a logistics company specializing in affordable, last-mile delivery. The OX team is delivering animal feed to hard-to-reach locations, so that farmers and agro-dealers can have better access to the products they need. OX is also working with national stakeholders to set up infrastructure for electric charging systems and is piloting the use of eco-friendly electric vehicles, with a goal to transform its fleet to electric trucks by 2024.

Next stop? Muhanga!

As we hop out, we heed a yellow sign: "Caution: Zip Crossing. Look both ways before crossing.” Prosper and Provi, two friendly Zipline representatives, greet us to tell us more about the medical and animal products that they transport by drone.

Believe it or not, our team is using these very drones to transport deliveries for pig farmers: artificial insemination kits to help smallholder farmers improve their litter sizes and their pig breeds through cross-breeding.

Let's catch a drone... We're headed North!

"Are we there yet?"

"Not to worry, our drones move fast! You'll be there in 20 minutes," replies our controller.

Trimming Down Delivery Times From Hours to Mere Minutes

The trip from Muhanga to Gakenke typically takes close to three and a half hours by car. Zipline has helped Orora Wihaze and Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (VSF) cut down delivery time from Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board’s (RAB’s) Muhanga pig-breeding center to a mere 20 minutes from the time it departs the facility. Zipline is able to fulfill and send out an order within five minutes after it’s placed. The Muhanga location typically sends out 190 drones per day with an On-Time Delivery rate of 99.4%.

We're landing by parachute.

Theogène, a vet technician, is waiting to scoop us. He's taking us to a nearby farm.

Marie's pig farm

Our team is working with Vets Without Borders to cross-breed local pigs for smallholder farmers, like Marie. Before, local pigs were producing small litter sizes and poor quality pork products. Now, their litter sizes are increasing from four to twelve piglets, with our support. Marie shows us one of her larger pigs – this one’s a Landrace cross-bred with a Piétrain.

School Nutrition Programs: Rounding Out Nutritious School Lunches With Fresh Eggs

Our next stop is an elementary school with 130 students – all under the age of 6. Outside the school, a group of young children line up to wash their hands at a water cooler before eating their lunch. They are excited about the visit and some of them run up to the front gate to greet us.

The school prides itself as an “early childhood development center;” in other words, it’s a school that integrates nutritious lunch options into its programming. The Orora Wihaze program connected Gacoproco – the nearby egg collection center – with the school so that they could provide children with critical protein to round out their meals.

Local farmers depend on Gacoproco to collect their eggs.

Driving East

The land here is a bit flatter than the rest of the terrain we’ve seen… it’s fertile land for maize farming.

A Burgeoning Corn Co-operative

We arrive at Cocumaki, a corn-producing co-operative in Rwanda’s Rwamagana district. Besides being a popular staple food in Rwanda, corn is used for producing meal and animal feed.

With advisory support from the outgoing president, Ildephonse (left), the new president John (right) is learning the ropes of leading the co-op. The USAID Cooperative Development Activity (CD4), implemented by Venture37, led training sessions on financial management, governance, and business development for the co-operative. With business development training and a grant from CD4, Cocumaki has managed to rent a new plot of collective land in 2022, which has helped it nearly double its production from last year’s harvest. It now produces 95 to 100 tons per year. When the co-operative was first registered in 2015, it was only producing seven tons.

Rounding Out the Tour With What We Do Best

Because we believe that no Land O’Lakes tour is complete without a visit to a dairy co-operative.

BTK is a dairy co-operative in Rwanda’s Gicumbi district. We tour the facility and check out the milk cooling tank, one location where the co-operative stores milk from its 82 members. They share that they didn’t have access to electricity before partnering with the Cooperative Development Program – but now they’re able to cool their milk. They’re greatly appreciative of the equipment and training sessions we’ve provided for them to better manage the business. Everyone at BTK knows the Land O’Lakes brand, an aspirational story for the power of co-operatives.

BTK Dairy Cooperative Members pose for a photo in front of their collection center.

Thank you for joining our virtual tour! The Venture37 Rwanda office looks forward to hosting you in person next time around!

Photos and content compiled by: Lysa Berwa, Morgan Callin, Tessa Martin. Special thanks to Orora Wihaze and CD4 team members who supported this story and visit: Rauben Asiimwe, Hortence Baho, Nancy Gashugi, Straton Fatahose, Eugenie Ingabire, Dennis Karamuzi, Caleb Karangira, Jean Bosco Karera, Benjamin Nizeyimana, Louis Ndayishimiye, Celestin Nzabonimpa, Willy Nyirigira, Valentine Uwase, Lucia Zigiriza.

& Thanks to all our other colleagues in Rwanda: Bernadette Muteteri, Mbagurire Jean Pierre, Ntare Humure Peter, Mukawera Margueritte, Ngendahimana Firmin, Gauthier Kayihura, Olivier Niyomugenga, Murebwayire Mediatrice, Jean Paul Ndagijimana, Bahati Ramadhan, Kwizera Bosco, Muhire Claire, Niyitegeka Antoine, Byiringiro David, Egide Uwizeye, Maurice Ndikumana, Uwase Valentine, Ferdinand Twagirimana, Carol Murekezi.

Orora Wihaze team on staff retreat.

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Credits:

Lysa Berwa, Morgan Callin, and Tessa Martin