Abstract: Much of Gicumbi District is rural based and majority of the people depend on land for substance; collect grass for their animals, collect water and obtain wood for cooking, and construction of buildings (homes, institutions and business premises) and different land management practices like tree planting, terracing among others have been adopted by the District to improve rural livelihoods of its people. Even though these practices continue to be encouraged and implemented in the district poverty levels have remained high and yet there are very limited studies conducted to assess the impact of these practices on rural livelihoods. Therefore, this study adopted quantitative and qualitative analysis to assess the impact of the activity of tree planting on sustainable rural livelihoods taking Mwange watershed in Gicumbi district as the case study. The watershed is 51 Km away to North of Kigali City, with a total population of 78623 inhabitants organized in 17670 households and only 7552 households with 34229 inhabitants is located in Mwange watershed, and it is only from this population that a study sample was chosen using Slovin’s formula. Questionnaires were used to collect data and later analyzed using descriptive statistics with the help of frequency and percentage tables and summary of community thoughts. The key findings indicate that before the introduction integrated watershed management practices, n=98 of respondents acknowledged a problem of livelihood decline and only 2% (n=2) respondents never perceived a decline in their livelihoods. Before the introduction of tree planting practice there area was faced with issues of land degradation which resulted into food shortage, poor nutrition and famine thus affecting economic growth of the area. However, on adaptation of tree planting, conditions of living improved due to increased land productivity and sale of forestry products. From the survey conducted, 85% of all the households located in Mwange area have noticed an increase in their household incomes which is being used to fulfill other family needs like medical care, house construction, clothes, cater for school expenses as well as rent farm land. The positive and significant impact of the practice of tree planting on the sustainable rural livelihoods of the people of Mwange watershed is an evident and essential to the sustainable rural development of the watershed. The enhanced income, improved environmental indices, and reduced vulnerabilities of farmers are recognized as new livelihood assets that will influence the future livelihood strategies in the holistic framework. It is concluded that increased land productivity, increased environmental indices and subsidies income as well as diversified livelihood strategies are essential to the sustainable rural development of the rural people. The success of tree planting practice in Mwange watershed strongly supports the future promotion of similar policies elsewhere in the region, as Rwanda continues to experience large-scale transformation within its vast rural areas.
Keywords: sustainable rural livelihoods, watershed, farmers.
Title: Impact of Integrated Watershed Management Practices on Sustainable Rural Livelihoods of the People of Rwanda
Author: LUTAGIRA JACKSON, DR. PATRICK MULYUNGI
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
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