SEAD West beneficiary G.S. Gisovu entered exhibition with tomatoes grown in project supported greenhouse

The SEAD West project in Rwanda under the lead of MSM has supported TVET G.S. Gisovu to build a greenhouse for their students to put theory into practice and grow their own vegetables. At the beginning of this year, the greenhouse was officially handed over to G.S. Gisovu and since then they have started growing vegetables. The school saw an opportunity to present their newly grown tomatoes at the Karongi District Exhibition.

As the project implementation lead, MSM and its project partners are very proud to see how well G.S. Gisovu is making use of the greenhouse. Since the handover of the greenhouse, G.S. Gisovu as well as their rural area has benefitted from it:

• Trainees of crop productions can learn by doing or direct observation
• Trainees learn how to grow vegetables such as tomatoes and see the effect of the greenhouse as a micro-climate area (Gisovu is at a high altitude of more than 2300 m altitudes in which adaptation of these crops is very low)
• Trainers and trainees obtained the opportunity of improved technology which was not available at Gisovu  and surrounding communities (examples: drip irrigation; and how to control and manage pests and diseases in the greenhouse)
• Surrounding communities are now coming to learn from our greenhouse and some of them start to express the need of installing the same facilities on their own.

Growing vegetables
The newly installed greenhouse has started with growing tomatoes from the moment they received the greenhouse. Now they are in the next phase of also starting to grow green peppers and cucumbers in the coming consecutive two seasons. Project partner Holland Greentech will support the school in this process.

Entering a the Karongi District Exhibition
G.S. Gisovu entered the one-week exhibition, named IMURIKABIKORWA RY’AKARERE KA KARONGI) or ‘’Karongi District Exhibition”. In this competition all stakeholders, which are farmer cooperatives, NGOs that are operating in the District, and other relevant Partners displayed what they are doing. It is in this framework, as the School had one of the quality tomato products, has been asked to participate in the Exhibition.

The school decided to enter the exhibition because G.S Gisovu is one of the TSS which as agriculture production and contributes to the development of the region. The greenhouse and other technics used in our products contribute not only to the development of the school but also to the community at large. In addition, in this District, there is an issue of lack of nutritious vegetables and through improved technologies such as greenhouses; this issue may be reduced at a low level. It is in that line, G.S. Gisovu has been invited by Twumba sector Authorities to be part of the exhibition and represent the School and the Sector as a whole.  

About SEAD West
maastricht School of Management in partnership with the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) implements the SEAD West project: Strengthening Education for Agricultural Development. Through the project, the education & training institutions (IPRC Karongi, TVET Gisovu, TVET Kivumu, and TVET Bumba) are capacitated to better address the needs of the stakeholders in the agriculture sector with a focus on the Agri-Tourism value Chain.

The SEAD West project has, broadly, three lines of intervention: 1) Curriculum Development/Revision, both formal and non-formal; 2) strengthen the Applied research & innovation capacities of the partner institutions and 3) strengthen the outreach services, more specifically the offer of tailor-made training, and establishment of Service, Training, and Innovation Center in Agri-Tourism focusing on the Horticulture value chain and hospitality.

Orange Knowledge Programme
This project is part of the Orange Knowledge Programme (OKP) which is funded by the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and managed by Nuffic. For more information click here.

MSM's Expert Centre on Emerging Economies

This institutional collaboration project is part of MSM's Expert Centre on Emerging Economies. The department is an expert centre on local economic development in emerging and developing markets.​ We capacitate managers and professionals from government, private sector, NGOs, and post-secondary education in Africa, Asia, Middle East, and Latin America. We offer consultancy and customized training programs, and we manage complex projects in key sectors, e.g. water, agriculture and health. For more information click here.

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