Useful Plants and How to Care for Them

1Plants that feed us

Rwandan farmers grow food plants, which we call crops. You already eat most of them.

• Beans, maize and sorghum — the seeds are what we eat.
• Cassava, sweet potatoes and Irish potatoes — these grow fat under the ground.
• Bananas — sweet ones for eating, and cooking bananas for the pot.
• Vegetables — tomatoes, cabbage, carrots, onions, dodo (amaranth).
• Fruits — avocado, mango, passion fruit, tree tomato.

2Plants that bring in money

Some plants are grown to be sold, not eaten at home.

On the hills, farmers grow coffee and tea. The coffee berries are picked, dried and sold. The young tea leaves are picked, dried and sold. Both are shipped far away to other countries, and the money comes back to Rwanda.

Even a small garden can bring in money. If Mugisha's avocado tree gives him 20 good avocados, and he sells each one at the market for 100 Frw, he takes home 20 × 100 = 2,000 Frw. That tree is working for his family.

3Trees do jobs no crop can do

Look at any Rwandan hillside and you will see trees planted in lines. They are there on purpose.

• Shade. Stand under a big tree at midday. It is cooler. Cows rest there too.
• Firewood and poles. Eucalyptus and grevillea give wood for cooking and for building.
• Food. Avocado, mango and papaya trees feed the family for years.
• They hold the hill together. This is the big one. Rwanda has steep hills and heavy rain. On bare ground, the rain washes the good soil straight down the slope and away. Tree roots grip that soil and hold it in place. No soil, no crops — so the trees are protecting next year's food.
• Fresh air. Leaves put clean air back into the sky, all day long.

That is why, on umuganda mornings, whole villages come out and plant young trees together.

Worked example: Mugisha plants a bean garden

Mugisha wants beans growing next to the kitchen — a small vegetable patch by the house is called a kitchen garden. Follow him step by step. Watch why he does each thing.

Step 1 — Choose the spot. He picks an open place that gets sun for most of the day. Why? Leaves need sunlight to make food. He does not plant under the big avocado tree, where his beans would sit in shade all day.

Step 2 — Clear and dig. He pulls out the weeds and digs the soil with a hoe until it is soft and crumbly. Why? Roots are soft. They cannot push through ground that is hard as a road.

Step 3 — Mix in manure. He carries manure from the cow shed and mixes it into the loose soil. Why? Roots drink mineral salts from the soil, and manure puts those salts back in.

Step 4 — Choose good seeds. He picks out beans that are big, whole and smooth. He throws away any that are cracked, or have a little hole where an insect went in. Why? A damaged seed usually will not sprout.

Step 5 — Make the holes. Each hole is about two finger-widths deep, and one hand-span from the next. Why the space? If plants sit right on top of each other, they fight over the same water, the same light and the same food, and all of them stay small.

Step 6 — Plant and cover. He drops one bean into each hole and covers it gently with loose soil. He does not stamp it down. Why? Stamped soil is hard soil, and it squeezes out the air the seed needs to breathe.

Step 7 — Water gently. He sprinkles water over the bed, slowly. Why gently? A hard splash of water digs the seeds up again and washes them away.

Seven days later, small green shoots come up in tidy rows. His work is not finished — it is just starting.

4How to care for a plant after you have planted it

• Water in the early morning or in the evening. At midday the hot sun steals much of the water before it can reach the roots.
• Weed. Weeds are not visitors, they are thieves. They drink the same water, eat the same mineral salts and block the same sunlight. Pull them out while they are still small and their roots are still short.
• Mulch. Spread dry grass on the soil around your plants. This is called mulch. It shades the soil so the sun cannot dry it out, and it smothers new weeds before they start.
• Feed. Add manure or compost from time to time, so the soil does not run out of mineral salts.
• Protect. Goats and chickens will eat a young plant in one minute. Put a small fence of sticks around a young tree.
• Be patient. Never pull a plant up to check whether the roots are growing. Pulling it up breaks the roots, and then it really will die.
• For trees: water a young tree until it is well rooted, never strip the bark off a tree, and plant a new tree for every tree that is cut down.

Worked example: Umutoni's care plan for her tomatoes

Umutoni planted tomatoes behind her house. Here is the plan she wrote, week by week.

Notice that she never leaves the plants alone for long. A plant you plant and forget is a plant you will not eat.

Try it yourself

Think first, then tap Show answer to check.