Catholic Entity Empowering Thousands in Rwanda Through Biodiversity Initiative

The officials of the overseas development agency say that among the direct beneficiaries of the initiative are at least 64,709 people. They add that the number covers the two districts of Nyamagabe and Nyaruguru, which have 33,519 women and 31,190 men.

“The project provided participants with livestock, including rabbits and chickens,” the officials say, and add, “This helped reduce the poaching of animals and protect the biodiversity of Nyungwe National Park, one of Africa’s oldest rainforests.”

Judith Mukacyubahiro, a mother of two who benefited from the biodiversity project after she received two rabbits and trained on how to take care of them, said that the initiative offers a good business idea.

“Last year, Judith received three rabbits (one male and two females) through the project and was given training on how to look after them properly. Rabbits have become a growing source of income for communities living in this area,” Trócaire officials say in the April 25 report. 

They add that it took Judith less than four months and the two rabbits multiplied. The officials say that one rabbit gave birth to five kittens and the other one gave birth to six.

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The officials of Trócaire further that Judith was delighted by the way the rabbits multiplied and that she is hoping to add more so that she can start her own rabbit farm.

Through Lcyizere Saving Group, an association that she joined in December 2020, Trócaire officials say that Judith was able to take a loan recently and she used it to buy two more rabbits as a way of boosting her rabbit farm business.

“I was so happy to see how fast the rabbits were multiplying and this made me see it as a good business idea,” Judith testified, and added, “This will require me to work harder and feed the rabbits, but I am confident that by end of this year I will start to profit from them.”

According to the leadership of the Catholic agency, rabbits have become a growing income source for impoverished families living near Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park, a region the agency says is rich in biodiversity.

In the April 25 report, the leadership of Trócaire says that Judith’s business idea is among a number of small business proposals being analyzed for extended support from the JOA funded project.