Agriculture drove Rwanda?s impressive growth over the past years and remains a key player of the country?s economy today, making up a third of GDP while employing 88% of the active population.

Largely due to successful transformation of agriculture, poverty dramatically decreased from 80% in 1994 to less than 45% of the population today. Again thanks to agriculture, most Rwandans are now food secure and can access more balanced diets.

Agriculture in Rwanda at a crossroad

Despite these major achievements, Rwanda?s agriculture is beginning to face heavy challenges. The ?land of a thousand hills? is the second most densely populated country in sub-Saharan Africa with about 415people per sq. km and it experiences amongst the highest population growth rates (2.7% in 2013) in the world.

Rising population and income, and related changes in food habits are resulting in an ever-growing demand for food. Evidence is accumulating on serious loss of soil fertility and decline in water quantity and quality in the country – two of the most critical natural resources on which agriculture depends.

In addition, climate change is already exerting significant negative pressure on the country?s agriculture, especially by changing the rainfall quantity and patterns. Yet, Rwanda must produce more and better to meet the sharply increasing demand for food and other products and services provided by its agricultural sector.

Rwanda is not alone in facing this predicament! Yield growth rates of food crops are declining worldwide. Average growth rates of yield for cereal grains (e.g. wheat, rice) have slowed from 2% per year in the 1970s-1980sto 1% per year since 1990.

Degradation of natural resources, and in particular degradation of soils and their intensive use may reflect the slowdown in yield growth. Unsustainable land use practices result in global net losses of cropland productivity of 0.2% a year.

The way forward

Rwanda can and must find solutions to these problems. By taking advantage of the best available knowledge both indigenous and external, the country can anticipate and adapt to the forthcoming challenges.

Much is already being done to increase production and conserve resources for food and agriculture in Rwanda. Nevertheless, some additional solutions that have proven successful elsewhere may support and accelerate the transition toward more productive and more sustainable agriculture, which will allow crops, forest products, livestock and fish to be produced for generations to come.

Sustainably intensifying agricultural production is based on a systemic approach to managing natural resources, in order to achieve greater production from fewer resources and minimize negative environmental impacts.

To do so, adapted, context-specific technologies and practices can be put in place locally. For example, large-scale irrigation schemes could be complemented by knowledge-based precision irrigation techniques.

Land degradation could be hindered through agroforestry that would allow for both environmental and economic benefits, in particular with fruit trees. Adapted associations and rotations of a wider range of plant species could be cultivated, to enhance soil fertility, crop nutrition and improve resilience.

Where the steep Rwandan slopes allow for it, conservation agriculture could be tested: minimized soil disturbance (minimized tillage) would help retaining crop residues and increasing soil fertility. Small livestock could be more widespread, thus contributing to human nutrition, fertilizing soils and providing economic benefits.

On the policy side, land consolidation (different from land-use consolidation) can significantly increase efficiency of Rwandan agriculture by facilitating mechanization, irrigation, and saving agricultural inputs including labour. Hence, It is necessary to encourage farmers to carry eco-friendly agriculture to save nature.