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We are in Mayuyu, about 50 kilometres from Bujumbura town, where a group of beneficiaries is implementing food crop farming as a micro-project. Found in their wheat field, the beneficiaries inform us they want to be a model for their neighbours.

After their integration into the income-generating activities implemented by Service Yezu Mwiza through Nurem project; this group of beneficiaries quickly realized that they had an opportunity to improve or even change their lifestyle. They started by renting a field for potato growing, a thriving crop in this locality, they also planted peas after sharing their first harvest, they kept a small part for consumption in their respective families but a large part was sold on the market so they could find sufficient capital to rent two fields but also to buy the wheat seeds.

“To ensure that the soil in our field does not degrade and remains fertile, we thought about crop diversification: After planting the potato the previous season in this growing season we sowed the wheat and as you can see, we have a beautiful field. We are working hard to make our micro project bigger, why not even set up a cooperative, and thus be a model for our community,” says one beneficiary while walking through their wheat field.

Beneficiary walking around the wheat field The project has had a positive impact not only on the beneficiaries and their families but also in the community, as they have become job creators: i.e. when they need labour to plough their fields; for weeding or during harvest, they call on neighbours who they pay at the end of the day. They are also inspiring because neighbours often come to them for advice on how to work together and in harmony in order to follow in their footsteps.
“This group of Mayuyu has understood the main aim of the project set up by SYM. My message to them is to congratulate them and wish them to continue to move forward. I also take this opportunity to encourage other beneficiaries to find inspiration in this group, so that they can replicate the same effects in their respective localities,” says Christy Ininahazwe, SJ, Projects and Programmes Coordinator at SYM.