Agroforestry in Rwanda with veritree and One Acre Fund

The hillsides in Rwanda are farmed extensively for cash crops (like maize 🌽 and coffee ☕) which has led to soil erosion and a loss of vital topsoil. Furthermore, a lack of trees to bind soil along the hills has led to dangerous and devastating landslides. These farming practices are directly impacting the farmers and communities that rely and live off these crops.
Agroforestry can play a pivotal role in supporting healthier crops, and in turn, reducing hunger and poverty in communities, like Rwanda, that rely heavily on agriculture.
Through agroforestry, trees are planted in and around crops. These trees help to keep the soil in place and prevent erosion, they provide shade for crops, help filter and retain water, and they provide biomass and leaf litter which help to fertilize the soil.
We’ve partnered with ‪@oneacrefund‬ to equip smallholder farmers in Rwanda with the finance, skills, expertise, and locally distributed tree seedlings to improve the productivity, soil health, and climate resilience of their crops.
The goal of the program is to put farmers first, help them grow more food, plant more trees, earn more money from their harvests, and improve their livelihoods so they become the stewards of their lands.