On May 26,2026,an awareness campaign was launched for the National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS) called “Tekana Urishingiwe Muhinzi Mworozi” in Rusizi District. as efforts intensify to protect farmers and livestock keepers against growing risks.
In addition to many farmers enrolled in the scheme, both enrolled and non-enrolled farmers, local leaders, representatives of the Single Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) of the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB), and insurance providers including SONARWA, Old Mutual, and BK Insurance, attended the campaign.
The officials that attended the launch used the opportunity to explain how the Tekana scheme works, including that there is a 40 percent government subsidy on the cost of premiums. The policy also covers a wide range of losses caused by accidents, untreatable diseases, epizootics, and destruction by the government, etc.
For some farmers, insurance value was already established.
Emmanuel Mutabaruka, a representative of a fish farming cooperative in Nkombo Sector, explained that unusual losses experienced as a result of natural disasters made them understand the importance of having this insurance.
A cooperative lost around 10,000 baby fish before they took out insurance because of conditions in the lake. Because of this experience, they signed up for insurance immediately after and have been able to continue their fish farming with much more confidence now that they have been insured for five months, according to one participant. The situation for Timoteyo Kanamugire, a cow breeder, was similar. Timoteyo has a neighbour that lost a cow; however, because his neighbour had insurance, he received compensation for the value of the cow as stated in his policy. Knowing his neighbour was compensated for that cow has prompted Timoteyo to insure his own cows and gives him more assurance as he continues to farm.
Though this program has made advances, farmers said there were still gaps in the program. Participants requested for the programme to cover more agricultural activities.
For instance, Timoteyo Tuyisenge, a beekeeper from Nzahaha Sector, said that they have lost bees from bee hives due to attacks from wildlife. This results in decreased honey production and beekeepers lose out on honey production without any compensation.
In response to these concerns, Rusizi District mayor Phanuel Sindayiheba said that the programme was expected to expand.
He argues that the government's initial focus on certain crops and livestock species has now expanded to include many more agricultural options through continuing partnerships with insurers and a desire to include more options. Performance data from the Rusizi District indicate that they have surpassed their targets set by the Tekana Programme for the period 2025-2026.
For rice, 2784 hectares were insured, so this reflects a 100% achievement against their original plan; for maize, 49 hectares total area were insured — over twice the anticipated area of 20 hectares.
For livestock aquaculture, there were 10000 fish insured and 5141 poultry - both amounts exceed an original target of 5000. For cattle, they had insured 1042 animals (thereby exceeding the target of 1032) and for pigs they also exceeded their provided volume of 417 with an additional 450 animals being insured.
The various numbers associated with this provide evidence that agricultural insurance is growing in confidence with the desire of farmers to receive more coverage for unpredictable losses.