Cooking fuel has been a “big” problem for a longtime in Kirehe District, but the problem is even more particular in Mpanga Sector due to the strange scarcity of trees in the area.
Mpanga used to have six natural savanna forests, but the more inhabited, the more overexploited it became, and today stands one protected forest, Ibanda-Makera, a 169 hectare natural forest made of gigantic natural trees and variety of wild animals, in a swampland connected to River Akagera.
Ibanda-Makera, according to environmentalists, lost 80 percent of its original size, and it neared extinction, just before the 2000s when the Government put measures in place to save its remaining 169 hectares.
On November 10, dozens of Mpanga Sector, Kirehe District, residents received “economical” cooking stoves, locally known as “Rondereza” to help them use less firewood.
A total of 5,000 stoves were provided to households in Mpanga by Rural Environment Development Organisation (REDO), funded by LIKANO, an Austrian organisation. Each of the remaining sectors of Kirehe also received 500 stoves this year.
This is one of the efforts being put in place to protect this natural forest that many see as tourism potential.
“We go to the marshland and pick dry grass, or go to other people’s livestock farms and pick the little dry branches of trees. But it is still a big issue,” Callixte Murengerantwari, resident in Nyawera II, Nasho Cell, Mpanga Sector, declared.
Francine Mukamana, his neighbour, echoed, “We go to the marshland to pick dry grass, plants called imifunzofunzo, imikote. People drown in the water while searching for firewood. I remember last year when some guys drowned there and nobody could even find their bodies.”
Maria Mukanoheri, said those who have banana plantations cut dry leaves and use them to cook, those who do not, go to the marshland to pick some dry grasses, but this is dangerous, sometimes children, women and even men accidently fall into the water and drown.
There also those who remove outer skin of cassava trees so they dry faster and use them as fuel, according to the residents.
“We have heard that the stoves are economical, that you use one wood where you used to use two, we are so happy for that, because the traditional stoves use lots of firewood yet here we do not have where to source them,” Callixte Murengerantwari,” added.
Octavien Ngirabakunzi, environment officer at Kirehe District said economial stoves are “what people in Mpanga needed”.
“When people do not use Rondereza, they use a large quantity of firewood, which makes them damage environment and forests in particular, including the Ibanda-Makera natural forest,” he stated.
Ngirabakunzi declared that electricity and gas are a sustainable means of cooking for Rwanda, but he admits that currently Rondereza stoves are still a less expensive option for the majority of the residents in Mpanga. However, he is optimistic that more people will have financial capacity enough to adjust to gas or electricity as days go by.
Damascene Gashumba, is the Director of Rural Environment Development Organisation (REDO), the organisation of environmentalists that are among those working on the preservation of the forest.
He discussed that besides protecting the forests in the area, the new cooking stoves are designed to reduce the emission of carbon into the atmosphere and tackle the climate change.
The stove making creates jobs for residents, also reducing the cost of cooking fuel by half.
REDO is doing its environment protection work in districts of Musanze and Burera in Northern Province, Rusizi in Western Province, Nyamagabe in Southern Province, and Kirehe and Bugesera in Eastern Province.
They are working in Kirehe because of Ibanda-Makera, he clarified.
“This area used to have six savanna forests in this area, three of them have already gone extinct, and Ibanda-Makera is one of the surviving forests, so we are working to preserve it, such that it goes on the same list as the Akagera National Park,” he said.
Gashumba said they have designed a business plan for this forest for the period between 2020-2050, and have already reported the plan to the Ministry of Environment.
“If tourism was promoted in this forest, at least 10 percent of Akagera park visitors would visit this place too, since the park was visited by 49,000 people last year, at least 4,900 could have visited here, and the revenues would benefit the community the forest here,” he discussed.
The government and its partners are currently rehabilitating the forest by adding more local trees like ficus, nile tulip, acacia, among others.
Dr Gashumba announced that there are more than 120 tree species in the forest.
The forest is home to animals like blue monkeys, local and migratory birds, chimpanzees, pythons, antelopes, leopards and sometimes hippopotamuses come into the forest from River Akagera.
