Cereals

Lessons

Senior 3 · Agriculture

Cereals

4 lessons

Lesson 2 of 4

Cereals Grown in Rwanda and Why They Matter

22 min

Let's begin

Which cereal does Rwanda grow most of? Many people guess rice, because it is eaten in so many homes. The National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) measures every farming season, and its answer is clear: maize, by a long way. In this lesson you will read NISR's figures for the four main cereals, find out where each is grown, and explain why cereals matter for food, income and industry.

Definition

Staple food: a food eaten regularly in large amounts, which supplies most of a population's energy. Example: maize flour made into a stiff porridge (ubugari).

Yield: the amount harvested from a unit area, here in tonnes per hectare ( $\mathrm{t\,ha^{-1}}$ ). $\text{yield} = \frac{\text{production}}{\text{area harvested}}$

Cash crop: a crop grown mainly to sell rather than to eat at home.

Season A and Season B: Rwanda's two main farming seasons, roughly September to February and March to June; a short Season C (July to September) is farmed mainly in valley bottoms.

How much is grown

Figure 2. Cereal production in 2024, Seasons A and B added together. Source: NISR, Seasonal Agricultural Survey 2024, Table 0.

Cereal	Area, Season A 2024 (ha)	Area, Season B 2024 (ha)	Yield, Season A (t/ha)	Main growing areas, 2024
Maize	249,435	92,944	2.0	Every district; largest areas in the Eastern Province (Nyagatare, Kirehe, Gatsibo)
Sorghum	34,720	120,005	1.4	Mostly a Season B crop: Kayonza, Gicumbi, Kirehe, Ngoma, Gatsibo
Paddy rice	17,173	17,994	4.1	Developed marshlands, for example in Gisagara, Nyagatare, Kayonza, Gatsibo, Bugesera and Rusizi
Wheat	2,618	10,294	1.3	Cool highlands, mainly in Season B: Nyamagabe, Ngororero, Nyabihu, Musanze, Burera

Source: NISR, Seasonal Agricultural Survey 2024 Annual Report, Tables 0, 10 and 11.

The pattern follows each crop's needs. Maize grows almost everywhere below the coldest highlands. Sorghum tolerates drought and heat better than maize, so it fills the drier east and the shorter, less reliable Season B. Rice needs standing water, so it is grown in marshlands developed with channels and water control. Wheat needs a cool climate, so it is grown at high altitude in the north, west and south-west.

Small amounts of finger millet (uburo) are also grown, mostly in the north, for porridge and traditional drinks.

Why cereals matter

Food and food security. Cereals supply cheap energy (starch), some protein and B vitamins: maize flour for ubugari, rice, sorghum porridge (igikoma), bread and chapati from wheat. Dry grain stores for months, so a good harvest feeds a family through the lean season.
Income. Grain is easy to sell and transport. In Season A 2024 farmers sold 43% of their maize, 65% of their sorghum and 82% of their paddy rice: for most rice farmers, rice is a cash crop.
Animal feed. Maize grain is the main ingredient of poultry and pig feed; maize bran, stover (dry stalks) and sorghum stalks feed cattle.
Raw material for industry. Grain supplies flour mills, rice mills, animal-feed factories and breweries, creating jobs in processing, transport and trade.
Culture. Sorghum beer (ikigage) is shared at ceremonies and celebrations.
By-products. Straw and stalks are used as mulch, compost, animal bedding and fuel; rice husks as fuel and in brick-making.
Saving foreign currency. Every tonne of rice or wheat grown at home is a tonne that need not be imported.

Worked example 1: calculating yield

Problem. NISR estimated that maize in Season A 2024 covered 249,435 ha and produced 507,985 t. In Season B it covered 92,944 ha and produced 119,101 t. Calculate the yield in each season and suggest a reason for the difference.

Solution.

Season A: $\frac{507\,985}{249\,435} \approx 2.04\,\mathrm{t\,ha^{-1}}$ .
Season B: $\frac{119\,101}{92\,944} \approx 1.28\,\mathrm{t\,ha^{-1}}$ .

Answer: about 2.0 and 1.3 t/ha. Season A is longer and its rains are more reliable, so maize, which takes four months or more to mature, does better in Season A; Season B often ends before the crop has finished filling its grain.

Worked example 2: the yield gap

Problem. In Season A 2024, NISR recorded average maize yields of 2.0 t/ha for small-scale farmers and 4.6 t/ha for large-scale farmers. (a) Find the yield gap. (b) How much more maize would a small-scale farmer with 0.5 ha harvest if she closed half of the gap?

Solution.

(a) Gap $= 4.6 - 2.0 = 2.6\,\mathrm{t\,ha^{-1}}$ .
(b) Half the gap $= 1.3\,\mathrm{t\,ha^{-1}}$ ; on 0.5 ha: $1.3 \times 0.5 = 0.65\,\mathrm{t} = 650\,\mathrm{kg}$ .

Answer: 2.6 t/ha; about 650 kg more maize. Large farms usually use certified seed, fertiliser, correct spacing and timely weeding and pest control: the practices of the next two lessons.

Warning

Common mistakes. (1) Do not add yields from two seasons: yield is a rate, so recalculate it from total production and total area. (2) Paddy rice is weighed before milling, with its husk on; milled rice weighs only about two-thirds as much.

Tip

Memory hook for where cereals grow: "Maize everywhere, sorghum where it's dry, rice where it's wet, wheat where it's cold."

CARD Secretariat: "Rice Milling: Rwanda's Game Changer". Watch how paddy from marshland cooperatives is cleaned, hulled, polished and graded, and note the jobs and income that milling adds to the crop.

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Practice

Name the four main cereals grown in Rwanda, with their Kinyarwanda names.
Which cereal had the largest production in 2024, and which the smallest?
Explain why sorghum is grown mostly in Season B and in the east.
Paddy rice in Season B 2024 covered 17,994 ha and produced 72,834 t. Calculate its yield to one decimal place.
Give five ways in which cereals are important to Rwanda.
In Season A 2024 farmers sold 81.7% of their paddy rice. If a cooperative member harvested 2,400 kg, how much did she sell, to the nearest kilogram?
The value added per hectare of paddy rice in 2024 was about 1,765,000 Frw and that of maize about 468,000 Frw (constant 2017 prices). How many times greater is rice's value per hectare? Suggest two reasons.

Show answersHide answers

Maize (ibigori), rice (umuceri), sorghum (amasaka), wheat (ingano).
Largest: maize (about 627,000 t). Smallest: wheat (about 16,000 t).
Sorghum tolerates drought and heat better than maize, so it suits the drier east and the shorter, less reliable rains of Season B.
$\frac{72\,834}{17\,994} \approx 4.0\,\mathrm{t\,ha^{-1}}$ .
Any five: staple food and food security; income; animal feed; raw material for mills, feed factories and breweries; jobs; cultural use; by-products (straw, stover, husks); saving foreign currency.
$0.817 \times 2400 = 1960.8 \approx 1961\,\mathrm{kg}$ .
$\frac{1\,765\,000}{468\,000} \approx 3.8$ times. Reasons: much higher yield (about 4 t/ha against 2 t/ha) because marshland water control lets rice grow in every season; a higher price per kilogram.

Key points

Maize is Rwanda's biggest cereal (about 627,000 t in Seasons A and B of 2024), then sorghum, paddy rice and wheat (NISR, 2024).
Each cereal is grown where its needs are met: sorghum in dry areas and Season B, rice in marshlands, wheat in cool highlands.
Cereals give food, income, feed, industrial raw materials, jobs and useful by-products.

Sources and credits

Seasonal Agricultural Survey, Annual Report 2024, National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR): Table 0 (area, production, yield), Tables 10 and 11 (areas by district), Table 24 (use of production), Table 5 (value added per hectare) and section 3.2 (yields of small- and large-scale farmers). Figures cited.
Photo Sorghum beer preparation, Burera, by Joseph Lionceau, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Video: Rice Milling: Rwanda's Game Changer, CARD Secretariat, embedded from YouTube.

Written by Ganzaa: the text, Figure 2, the table and the worked examples.

This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.

1How much is grown

2Why cereals matter

How much is grown

Why cereals matter