[01] Kirabo Justine, Faculty of Environmental Studies, Option of Environmental Economic and Natural Resource Management, University of Lay Adventists of Kigali, Kigali, Rwanda. [02] Maniragaba Abias, Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Lay Adventists of Kigali (UNILAK), Kigali, Rwanda.

This paper aimed to investigate the influence of rainwater harvesting ponds on ecosystem productivity in Rwanda by referring to Cyeza sector of Muhanga district. Nine parameters of water sampled namely PH, electric conductivity, total dissolved solids, calcium, magnesium, HCO₃, sodium, PO₄ and NO₃ were analyzed to come up with water quality assessment in ponds. Provisioning and regulating services as ecosystem services were discussed based on pond water availability and quality. SPSS, laboratory and Microsoft excel were used to analyze these water parameters and spread the resulting nationally. The results showed that the water sample taken was not desirable for both animal and human drinking (affect health problems) but was also showed that the water was crucial for farming irrigation that leads to plant growth (contain some minerals as Na, Mg, Na that are necessary for plant development). 75.5% of farmers testified that RWH ponds offer them good crop yields, 98.1% of the respondents testified that before adopting RWH technology, the level of crop productivity was totally low, whereas after adopting RWH ponds, the findings showed that the level of crop productivity was increased from moderate to very high level represented by 52.8%, 37.7% and 9.5% consecutively. This implies that crop productivity has been dramatically increased after adopting RWH ponds as shown in the table 7. The results of this study can help policy makers to understand the community requirements and ensure spread of policies that could help farmers to adopt and use efficiently rainwater harvesting ponds that lead them to good cropping yields.

Rain Water Harvesting Ponds, Ecosystem, Productivity, Cyeza Sector and Rwanda

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