FROM PRIMARY TEACHER TO MILLIONAIRE

Marie. Mukandahiro  56 was a primary teacher at Karongi Primary School who worked in teaching carrier  for almost 20 years.She took  a risk by quitting her job of teaching in favour of farming this was due to insufficiency salary  obtained in her teaching carriers. Mukandahiro has started onion cultivation that made her to earns more than Rwfl  million  per month.

HOW SHE STARTED:
 The journey of agriculture activities was full started after the death of her husband in 2006, since all responsibilities of the family(five children) matters was upon her and hence forces her to look for other source of income apart from teaching.Since farming issues require some attention hence she quit her job and begun full function on agriculture issues.
 During her beginning of the project the old woman hadn't have enough experience apart from knowledge received from books.Mukandahiro started out with less than Rwf80,000 from her savings as a teacher. She approached a neighbour and requested to use part of his land as she prepared to buy hers.
 LWH project
In 2011 she received support from Land Husband Water  Harvesting and Hillside Irrigation (LWH) project  which was under World bank.This project serves her needs to the maximum , since it was modern technology and help her to sharpen her skills  she urged to say “The project gave me a chance to better my skills as a farmer and also gave me a platform to learn how to optimally use land through terracing, fertiliser application and irrigation.” and hence productivity increases.


. Thi s project made in 2012 made her to  decided concentrate on large-scale onion growing and eventually became one of the major onion farmers in Karongi.
She does not worry about dry spells, thanks to her farm’s proximity to Lake Kivu.

OBSTACLES :
 She made loses during the first two seasons because she lacked skills and experience. In addition, she did not know how to store the onions after harvest or market them.
She also faced the challenge of transport, saying it was always difficult to access markets, which forced her to rely on middlemen.
She calls on government to continue investing in rural infrastructure, especially the feeder roads, to ease access to markets. According to Mukandahiro, it is critical for government and other stakeholders to keep supporting farmers for a desirable and more sustainable economic development.

POSITIVE RESULTS:
Her income increases earns Rwf1 million monthly from onion growing compared to her Rwf100,000 primary school teacher salary. Farm expansions from two hectares  to over 30 hectares presently.
“I have also diversified the enterprise and now grow other crops including maize and Irish potatoes,” she adds, noting that she has also ventured into dairy farming.
She has constructed a decent house using proceeds from agriculture and her children have been able to complete school. The family house is also connected to the national electricity grid. Mukandahiro’s farming activities has led to job creation to more than 20 people.

ADVICE:
According to Mukandahiro, salary is not enough always to meet family demands hence she advice on supplement their salaries by having an external source of generating money. The difficulties are mergers of new solutions don't  fear to get difficulties in life. She urges women to take advantage of the conducive business environment and start enterprises that will enable them to become financially independent.

FUTURE PLANS:
Mukandahiro plans to continue expanding her onion farms to be able to meet the growing demand for the crop. She says the demand for onions is always increasing as more people embrace the spice.
She, however, notes that though the growing demand presents farmers a business opportunity, it challenges them to increase production and improve storage.