By Annonciata BYUKUSENGE
The vegetable farmers in the Kumusizi swamp say that the mulching has helped them cope with climate change because even in the dry season their vegetables produce enough as they told Rwandanews24.
The mulching is one of the strategies to cope with climate change, according to some vegetable farmers in the Kumusizi Swamp in Huye District, Huye Sector.
Niyonsaba said: “Before I using mulching my vegetables were producing enough during the rainy season. During the summer, I was used irrigation and it immediately rose from the ground, some vegetables dried up and others decomposed and wasted. Since I started using the mulching, even in the summer, the vegetables look better because the grassland makes the soil retain water.”
Her colleague Kabanda also works in vegetable farming in the Kumusizi swamp, and he talks about the importance of the mulching and how it helped them to get the fertilizer into the soil properly.
“Before using the mulching in vegetable farming, I would put fertilizer in it and it would be blown away by the wind. But now when I put the fertilizer on the vegetables, I make sure that the mulching helps to penetrate the plant better because the mulching keeps the water and the soil does not dry out and the fertilizer penetrates well. Said Kabanda.
Mr. Sindarihora Philbert, the Agronomy of Huye Sector, an interview with Rwandanews24 said that mulching is very important because it makes the soil dry during the dry season.
“Mulching prevents soil erosion, makes soil-destroying insects (farmer’s friends) more efficient and provides compost, reduces disease caused by soil-borne diseases,” he said.
He further said that mulching increases the fertility of the soil and is able to adapt to climate change, resulting in an increase in agricultural production.
“We are continuing to campaign for other farmers to participate in the program of mulching because those who have used it have been productive and the problem of the effects of climate change has been reduced for those who use mulching in their agriculture.”
As contained in the Paris Agreements and the Kigali Amendments, the Government of Rwanda has established measures to protect and conserve the environment, to cope with climate change.
The Rwandan government has put in place concrete measures to help farmers cope with the effects of climate change.
One of these measures includes encouraging farmers to use mulching so that agriculture will not suffer from the effects of climate change.
