Rwanda is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa, and the majority of people earn a living through labour-intensive subsistence farming, employing inefficient agricultural practices that produce poor yields and lead to poverty and environmental degradation. As a result, local communities encroach on the Volcanoes National Park for farmland and trespass to collect firewood, food and water, threatening the survival of the critically endangered mountain gorilla. Since 2001, the Gorilla Organization has been implementing the Sustainable Agricultural Training Project (SATP) in communities living alongside the park. During the initial stages of the project, 110 farmers received six months of intensive training in the theory and practice of organic agriculture. Once they had completed their training - qualifying as ‘key farmer trainers’ (KFTs) - they each trained a further 20 contact farmers, who in turn trained five more farmers each. Ultimately, more than 13,000 would adopt the techniques in this way.
The objective of the SATP is to improve the agricultural practices of communities living alongside the Volcanoes National Park, in turn reducing poverty and human pressure on the park.