Rwanda to introduce mobile phones technology in irrigation system

Rwanda plans to introduce a new mobile phone technology that will use treated waste water from purification stations across all 30 districts of the country, to irrigate plantations, Rwandan Minister of Agriculture Geraldine Mukeshimana said on Wednesday.

She said the water to be used on several hectares of plantations in marshland areas across the country would be treated in line with the country's agriculture policy to reduce poverty that is affecting small-scale farmers from remote rural areas.

Kalibata, who was addressing parliament on the current trends of agriculture innovation in the country, said the Rwandan government is currently emphasizing on the use of mobile phone to ensure that this technology could also facilitate the Irrigation Master Plan and hillside irrigation system.

"Currently, the government in partnership with the private sector is testing technology that allows farmers to use their mobile phones to remotely monitor and switch on irrigation pump sets in far flung locations," she said.

Rwandan farmers are already using mobile phones to access agricultural information relevant to their activities, she said.

Faced with poor rainfall in some remote rural areas, due in part to climate change, the tiny nation has opted for crop irrigation techniques in which the government invests 60 percent and the private sector invests the remaining part.

Kalibata said the plan would be a big boost to farmers in Rwanda's eastern province, which faces chronic shortage of irrigation water forcing authorities to ration water.

The project would be implemented in collaboration with farmers under a contract with the private sector, she added. Endit