CMU student looks to help Rwandan farmers

A Carnegie Mellon University graduate student is connecting her work at the university to her home country of Rwanda.

Esther Kunda, a student in CMU’s Master of Science in Information Technology program, came to Pittsburgh from Rwanda to complete her spring semester at the Pittsburgh campus. Here, she is working to develop a virtual agriculture company that would help Rwandan farmers learn about crop maintenance and delivery systems.

Kunda, who is from a farming family, received a $5,000 business startup grant from crowdfunding site Indiegogo to fund her project.

“I want to do something that would help our farmers better market key products and also get timely information about how climate change impacts crops and production,” Kunda said.

Agriculture accounts for a third of Rwanda’s gross domestic product and the main source of income for rural families, which comprise roughly 80 percent of the country’s population.

CMU began offering graduate engineering degree programs in Rwanda in 2011.

Pittsburgh Business Times

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