The problem that is being tackled
One Acre Fund-TUBURA (1AF) is an agricultural development organization serving 265,000 Rwandan farmers. 1AF provides agricultural inputs and other product using a flexible group credit system, input delivery to rural villages, and ongoing training in agricultural techniques and market access. This bundle of services is designed to help rural smallholder farmers overcome the barriers of cash constraints, geographic isolation, and lack of well-tailored training programs. However, 1AF witnessed variation among farmers in terms of adoption, and how the use of inputs and training translated into livelihood outcomes.
The CIALCA solution
After intense discussions with 1AF, the CIALCA team adapted the RHoMIS tool to survey more than 2,700 farmers across Rwanda. Results show how farm and household characteristics (e.g. crops grown, livestock ownership, cultivated area, marital status, education of household head, and perceived number of positive farm-scale changes) influence adoption of innovation, based on which 1AF can optimize and fine-tune their programs and increase their impact. It is a perfect example of how CIALCA seeks to collaborate and co-invest in using scientific methods to overcome very ‘real’ challenges of scaling partners such as 1AF.
How it contributes to improving livelihoods
The main objective of this activity is to gain insight into household-level determinants of input adoption in Rwanda. 1AF aims to understand which “types” of farmers enrol in 1AF or adopt 1AF products, and to estimate the prevalence of those “types” in the general population. With this information, 1AF can tailor its program to achieve better uptake and to better cater to the needs of its clients.
CIALCA Pillars
| Pillar 1: Partnerships and policies | Pillar 2: Capacity Development | Pillar 3: Innovation development and use |
|---|---|---|
| 1AF and CIALCA are co-investing in this workstream and developed a long-term memorandum of understanding for this collaboration. | The collaboration between CIALCA and 1AF strengthens capacity within both organisations. Student research projects have contributed to the development of the survey tool and CIALCA PhD and MSc students will work on the data set. | The RHoMIS survey tool was developed under the CGIAR Research Programs and is now fine-tuned and used to support scaling partners such as 1AF in increasing the (cost-) effectiveness of agricultural service delivery. |
Must-read publication
If you want to learn more about household typologies and the RHoMIS tool that was used under this workstream, then please read:
- Hammond, J., Fraval, S., van Etten, J., Suchini, J. G., Mercado, L., Pagella, T., Frelat, R., Lannerstad, M., Douxchamps, S., Teufel, N., Valbuena, D. & van Wijk, M. T. (2017). The Rural Household Multi-Indicator Survey (RHoMIS) for rapid characterisation of households to inform climate smart agriculture interventions: Description and applications in East Africa and Central America. Agricultural Systems 151: 225-233.
More info and outputs
- https://www.rhomis.org/
- Dr Rhys Manners, CIALCA Data Scientist (r.manners@cgiar.org)
Partners
This work stream is implemented in collaboration with:
