Subsistence Farming: Types, Crops, Factors, Advantages and Disadvantages – Agriculture in Rwanda (Senior 4 Geography) | Ganzaa

Agriculture in Rwanda

Lessons

Senior 4 · Geography

Agriculture in Rwanda

5 lessons

Lesson 1 of 5

Subsistence Farming: Types, Crops, Factors, Advantages and Disadvantages

25 min

Beans in four homes out of five

The 2022 census counted 2,280,854 agricultural households, 68.9% of all households and 83.1% of rural ones (NISR, 2023). Figure 1 shows what the crop-farming households grow.

Figure 1. Crops grown by crop-farming households, 2022. Drawn by Ganzaa from NISR, RPHC5 Table 82.

Most households grow beans, maize, cassava, vegetables and sweet potatoes: the foods a family eats every day. Very few grow rice or wheat. What does this tell you about the purpose of most farming in Rwanda?

Definition

Subsistence farming: farming mainly to feed the farmer's own household, with only a small surplus sold. Commercial farming: farming mainly for sale.

Mixed farming: growing crops and keeping livestock on the same farm. Intercropping (mixed cropping): growing two or more crops together on one plot, such as beans under maize or bananas.

Yield: output per unit of land, $\text{yield} = \frac{\text{production}}{\text{area harvested}}$ , in tonnes per hectare (t/ha).

How much farming is subsistence?

In 2025, 39.1% of employed Rwandans worked mainly in agriculture, forestry and fishing, and 50.3% of agricultural workers were engaged in subsistence agriculture (NISR, Labour Force Survey 2025). Subsistence and commercial farming overlap: most farm households eat most of what they grow and sell some beans, bananas or vegetables at the local market.

Types of subsistence farming in Rwanda

Type	Description	Where
Small-scale mixed farming	Food crops plus a cow, goats, pigs or chickens; manure fertilises the fields	Everywhere; the main system
Intercropping on terraced hillsides	Beans with maize or under bananas; sweet potatoes and cassava on poorer soils	The hills of all provinces
Marshland (valley) farming	Rice, vegetables and sweet potatoes on drained valley floors, including in Season C	Valley bottoms
Traditional pastoralism (historical)	Herds moved for grazing; largely replaced by settled livestock keeping	The drier east

Rwanda's three farming seasons

Season	Months (2024)	Notes
A	September to February	Main season after the short rains; most maize and beans
B	March to June	Long rains; more sorghum (120,005 ha in 2024 against 34,720 ha in Season A)
C	July to September	Dry season: marshlands and the volcanic zone; 58.2% of farmers irrigated

Source: NISR, Seasonal Agricultural Survey 2024.

Worked example 1: low yields on small farms

Data (SAS 2024, Season A). Beans: 233,142 tonnes from 328,961 ha harvested. Maize: 507,985 tonnes from 249,276 ha. Agricultural land: 1.372 million ha. Agricultural households (2022 census): 2,280,854.

\text{bean yield} = \frac{233\,142}{328\,961} = 0.71\ \text{t/ha} \qquad \text{maize yield} = \frac{507\,985}{249\,276} = 2.04\ \text{t/ha}

\text{land per agricultural household} \approx \frac{1\,372\,000}{2\,280\,854} = 0.60\ \text{ha}

Interpretation. On average a farm household has well under one hectare, and this figure includes pasture, permanent crops and estates, so most family plots are smaller. A household planting 0.25 ha of beans at 0.71 t/ha harvests only about 180 kg in a season. Small plots and low yields are why most farming remains subsistence.

Factors favouring subsistence farming

Physical: two rainy seasons allow two main crops a year; fertile volcanic and valley soils; a mild highland climate suits beans, bananas, maize and potatoes.
Small, fragmented plots because of high population density (503 people per km² in 2022) and inheritance that divides land among children.
Family labour and hand tools: hoes and machetes need little money.
Food security and tradition: households prefer to grow their own staple foods; beans, sorghum and bananas are part of daily diet and culture.
Limited capital and markets: little money for inputs, and poor roads in some areas.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages	Disadvantages
Feeds the family directly; food security at household level	Low yields (beans about 0.7 t/ha) and little surplus to sell
Intercropping and mixed farming spread risk and keep the soil covered	Small, scattered plots make machines and irrigation hard to use
Needs little money; uses family labour and manure	Low incomes; vulnerable to drought, floods, pests and diseases
Keeps a variety of crops and traditional knowledge	Cultivation of steep slopes and wetlands causes erosion and wetland loss
Rural employment for most of the population	Child and female labour can be heavy; little time for other work

Warning

"Subsistence" does not mean "no market". Most Rwandan farmers sell some of their crops. The difference is the main purpose. In an answer, use evidence: 50.3% of agricultural workers were engaged in subsistence agriculture in 2025 (NISR), not "all farmers".

World Vision Rwanda: "Transforming subsistence farmers into large-scale commercial producers". Note how farmers moved from growing only for food to producing for markets, and what they needed to do it.

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Practice

Distinguish subsistence from commercial farming, with Rwandan examples.
Name five crops grown by most subsistence farmers in Rwanda and one reason for each.
In Season B of 2024, beans gave 242,239 t from 328,858 ha harvested. Calculate the yield.
Explain why sorghum is grown mostly in Season B.
Give three physical and two human factors that favour subsistence farming.
Why is intercropping common on small farms?
"Subsistence farming cannot feed Rwanda's growing population." Discuss.

Show answersHide answers

Subsistence: mainly to feed the household (beans, maize, sweet potatoes on a family plot). Commercial: mainly for sale (tea estates, rice schemes, dairy farms).
Beans (protein, grown in both seasons), maize (staple, high yield), cassava (drought-tolerant, poor soils), sweet potato (fast, reliable), banana (food, beer, all year).
$\frac{242\,239}{328\,858} = 0.74\ \text{t/ha}$ .
Sorghum needs a long growing period and suits the long rains of March–May; the 2024 data show 120,005 ha in Season B against 34,720 ha in Season A.
Physical: two rainy seasons; fertile volcanic and valley soils; mild highland climate. Human: small plots from high density and inheritance; family labour and hand tools; food security and tradition; limited capital.
It uses small plots fully, spreads risk if one crop fails, keeps the soil covered, and legumes such as beans add nitrogen for the other crop.
Yields are low (beans 0.71 t/ha) and plots small (about 0.6 ha per household), while the population is projected to grow to 23.6 million by 2052. But yields can rise with improved seeds, fertiliser, irrigation and consolidation (lesson 3), and food self-sufficiency is already about 83% (MINAGRI). Subsistence farming alone cannot keep pace; it must be modernised and linked to markets.

Quick check

Which crop was grown by the largest share of crop-farming households in 2022?

Key points

2,280,854 agricultural households (68.9% of households, 2022); 50.3% of agricultural workers in subsistence agriculture (2025).
Main subsistence crops: beans (79.9% of crop farmers), maize, cassava, vegetables, sweet potato, banana, sorghum.
Types: small-scale mixed farming, intercropping on terraces, marshland farming; three seasons A, B, C.
Factors: rainfall, soils, small plots, family labour, tradition, little capital. Low yields (beans 0.71 t/ha, maize 2.04 t/ha in Season A 2024) and about 0.6 ha per household limit surplus.

Sources and credits

Sources: Fifth Rwanda Population and Housing Census, 2022: Main Indicators Report, NISR, 2023 (agricultural households, crops grown, density); Seasonal Agricultural Survey: Annual Report 2024, NISR (seasons, areas, production, yields, irrigation, agricultural land); Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, NISR (employment in agriculture, subsistence share); Rwanda's agriculture sector transformation over the last 32 years, MINAGRI, 8 July 2026 (food self-sufficiency).

Figure 1 and the worked example were drawn and written by Ganzaa.

Photos: Green beans farm, UWIMPUHWE Va, CC BY 4.0; Maize storage (ubuhunikiro, ancient Ikigega kibika imyaka), St Lucky R, CC0; via Wikimedia Commons.

Video: "Transforming Subsistence Farmers into Large Scale Commercial Producers", World Vision Rwanda, embedded from YouTube. The rest of the lesson and the exercises were written by Ganzaa.

1Beans in four homes out of five

2How much farming is subsistence?

3Types of subsistence farming in Rwanda

4Rwanda's three farming seasons

5Factors favouring subsistence farming

6Advantages and disadvantages