Agricultural Systems in Rwanda
Senior 2 · Geography and Environment
Agricultural Systems in Rwanda
Lesson 1 of 4
18 min
Most Rwandan families grow at least part of their own food, and most Rwandan workers are farmers. Tea and coffee from Rwanda's hills are sold across the world. Farming feeds the nation, employs the majority and earns foreign exchange. Understanding what is grown, where and why is the starting point for this unit.
| Crop | Type | Main growing areas and conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Bananas | Food (also beer and cash) | Throughout the country, especially the east and west; deep, moist soils |
| Beans | Food | Everywhere; often intercropped with maize or bananas |
| Irish potatoes | Food and cash | Volcanic highlands: Musanze, Nyabihu, Burera; cool climate, fertile soil |
| Cassava and sweet potatoes | Food | Widespread, especially the south and east; tolerate poorer soils and drought |
| Maize and sorghum | Food (sorghum also for beer) | Widespread; large consolidated maize fields in the Eastern Province |
| Rice | Food and cash | Irrigated marshlands: Bugarama, Bugesera, Rwamagana, Nyagatare |
| Tea | Cash (export) | High, wet slopes: Nyabihu, Rubavu, Karongi, Nyamasheke, Nyamagabe, Gicumbi, Rulindo |
| Coffee | Cash (export) | Grown by smallholders, especially around Lake Kivu and in the south, on mid-altitude slopes of roughly 1,400–2,000 m |
| Pyrethrum | Cash (insecticide) | Cool volcanic highlands of Musanze and Nyabihu |
| Sugar cane | Cash | Valley floors, notably the Nyabarongo valley |
| Horticultural crops | Cash | Fruit (avocados, pineapples), vegetables, and cut flowers grown in greenhouses for export |
In 2019 Rwanda produced about 2,600 thousand tonnes of bananas, 484 thousand tonnes of beans, 31 thousand tonnes of tea and 29 thousand tonnes of coffee. What do these figures show?
Tip
Memory hook. Match crop to climate: cool and high (potatoes, pyrethrum, tea), mid-altitude and moist (coffee, bananas, beans), warm and drier (cassava, sorghum, maize in the east), wet valley floors (rice, sugar cane).
Solution: subsistence farming grows food mainly for the family; commercial farming grows mainly for sale.
Solution: tea and coffee (also pyrethrum, horticultural crops).
Solution: fertile volcanic soils and a cool highland climate.
Solution: in irrigated marshlands such as Bugarama and Bugesera.
Summary
Sources and credits
The crop table, the worked example and the practice items are written by Ganzaa.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
