Farming, Fishing and Mining in Rwanda

1What is an economic activity?

An economic activity is any work people do to produce goods or provide services, so that they can earn money or get what they need. Farming, fishing, mining, tourism, trade, craft work, building and teaching are all economic activities.

21. Agriculture (farming)

Agriculture means growing crops and keeping animals. It is the most common kind of work in Rwanda. In 2000, about 79 out of every 100 workers in Rwanda worked in farming. By 2020 it was about 50 out of 100, as more people found jobs in services, building and industry (International Labour Organization estimates, shown by Our World in Data).

• Food crops are grown mainly to feed the family: beans, bananas, maize, cassava, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes and sorghum. When a family grows food mostly for itself, this is called subsistence farming.
• Cash crops are grown mainly to sell, often to other countries: tea, coffee and pyrethrum. Rwanda's high hills, good rainfall and volcanic soils suit tea and coffee very well. Tea grows on cool, wet hills in districts such as Nyabihu, Nyamasheke and Gicumbi.
• Livestock: cows, goats, sheep, pigs, chickens and rabbits. Under the Girinka ("may you have a cow") programme, started in 2006, poor families receive a cow that gives them milk and manure.

32. Fishing

People catch fish in Rwanda's lakes and rivers, and farm fish such as tilapia in ponds. On Lake Kivu, fishers go out at night and use lamps to attract isambaza, a small sardine-like fish that was brought to Lake Kivu from Lake Tanganyika. Fish gives families protein and income.

43. Mining

Mining means digging valuable minerals out of the ground. Rwanda mines:

• cassiterite, the ore that gives tin;
• coltan, which gives tantalum, used in mobile phones and computers;
• wolframite, the ore that gives tungsten. In 2019 Rwanda was the world's 7th biggest producer of tungsten;
• gold, and some gemstones such as sapphires.

Minerals, tea, coffee and tourism are among Rwanda's biggest earners of money from other countries.

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