Karongi farmers abandon mulberry cultivation after years of losses

By The Inspirer.

More than 109 farmers in Karongi District have been granted permission to uproot mulberry trees and replace them with food crops after years of financial losses caused by the collapse of Rwanda’s silk production value chain.

The farmers launched the uprooting exercise on July 29 during community service activities to prepare their land for the upcoming agricultural season. They plan to cultivate potatoes, maize, vegetables and other food crops expected to generate higher incomes and improve household food security.

The decision follows a recent visit by Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources Dr. Telesphore Ndabamenye, during which farmers appealed to abandon mulberry cultivation. Their request was approved.

Mulberry trees were introduced as a high-value cash crop to support silk production, with their leaves used to feed silkworms that produce silk fiber. However, the project stalled after markets for silkworm cocoons dried up, leaving many farmers with a crop that could no longer generate sustainable income.

Karongi once had more than 20 hectares under mulberry cultivation, but the area has shrunk to fewer than 10 hectares as farmers gradually abandoned the crop.

Fidele Ngirente, a farmer in Nyakariba Marshland in Bwishyura Sector, said growing mulberry for eight years brought little reward.

In eight years, the only thing I earned from mulberry was enough money to buy a pig worth Rwf150,000,” he said. “We were promised a silk industry that would create opportunities, but that never materialized. Growing potatoes, maize and vegetables will help us earn a better living and improve food security.”

Cecile Uwimana, president of the Dushyirehamwe-Nyakariba Cooperative, said farmers had initially embraced the crop hoping it would transform their livelihoods.

“Once the market disappeared, we began making losses,” she said. “A hectare of mulberry earned us about Rwf200,000, while a hectare of potatoes can generate up to Rwf12 million. We have since learned that our land is well suited for potato farming.”

Martin Kimenyi, head of the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB) Gakuta Station, said farmers requested permission to switch crops after concluding that mulberry cultivation was no longer economically viable.

He noted that a hectare producing around 20 tonnes of potatoes could generate approximately Rwf12 million at an average market price of Rwf600 per kilogram, highlighting the significant income potential of the alternative crop.

Karongi District agriculture officer Fabien Safari said preparations for the next planting season are underway and encouraged farmers to adopt sustainable farming practices to protect soils from erosion.

Nyakariba Marshland covers 14 hectares, all of which were once planted with mulberry. Before the latest uprooting exercise, only four hectares of the crop remained, marking the end of a project that many farmers had hoped would become a profitable source of income.