Rural Community in Ruhango district make salt for cows to boost dairy produce

Elias Hakizimana Jul 8, 2023Jul 8, 2023 0 Comments

By Elias Hakizimana.

At least 40 members of ‘Abaharanira Iterambere Mu Nka Zitanga Umukamo’ Association from Kinihira sector, Ruhango district in the Southern Province of Rwanda have revealed a new tech to produce salt for cows, an initiative that will help them to increase milk produce and to improve health for dairy cows.

The Association that is made of 25 women and 15 men was initiated in 2018 and the idea to produce salt for cows went into implementation in June 2022 according to testimonies.

Bio scientists say that cows need salt referred to as sodium chloride as it helps to perform several vital processes including water regulation within the body.

Some members of ‘Abaharanira Iterambere Mu Nka Zitanga Umukamo’ Association point out that this development has improved health for cows and increased dairy produce.

**Besides feeding cows, making salt for cows is a home-grown solution and a long-term project to uplift the farmers from poverty.**

Violette Muteteri, a member of this association says they got training under the Rwanda Dairy Development Project (RDDP) and learned from field trips on how cow salt is produced.

“We started making salt to give our cows to improve their body immunity and the project provided us with grass seeds to help us increase milk productivity. This salt helps a cow to graze a lot and to drink water in a big quantity,” Muteteri says, adding that they can produce 100 salts (100 kilograms) worth RWF 400,000 per month.

***Violette Muteteri, a member of ‘Abaharanira Iterambere Mu Nka Zitanga Umukamo’ Association explains the source of project idea.***

“We used to buy salt for our cows at a higher cost between Rwf8,000 to Rwf10,000 and we could take long journey to find it from a commercial center of a vet pharmacy,” says Claudine Mukansanga, another member of ‘Abaharanira Iterambere Mu Nka Zitanga Umukamo’ Association.

Aloysie Mukunduhirwe, another member from Buhoro cell, Ruhango Sector says the salt has played a pivotal role in boosting health for her cows and milk produce has increased.

“This salt has been good for my cow. I see a lot of money, dairy produce has increased and we try to save some money from our small earnings, when we meet for salt production, we can save and borrow money from our saving scheme to pay health insurance and cover medical treatment,” Mukunduhirwe says.

***Aloysie Mukunduhirwe, another member of the association.***

The initiative was supported by the RDDP IFAD-funded project. The Government of Rwanda through Rwanda Agricultural and Animal Resources Board (RAB) played a role in the implementation process of this initiative.

Jean Marie Vianney, Rusiribana, Vice Mayor of Ruhango District in charge of Finance and Economic Development says that the district has the responsibility to support the activities of the citizens to invest in rural development such as Agriculture and Livestock.

“The district is supposed to support the good activities of its citizens, we are discussing with MINAGRI and RAB to seek solutions that can help farmers produce salt for cows in a very professional way, and possibly to have a special processing factory, we have a subsidy program to help farmers have modern production equipment for salt and to build a processing facility near their homes or pastures, ” Rusiribana says.

Farmers expressed the problem of not being able to produce more salt, due to lack of financial capacity.

The Vice Mayor Rusiribana says the district is looking at different opportunities to help them expand the activities that are in line with dairy production.