Introduction to Agriculture
Senior 1 · Agriculture
Introduction to Agriculture
Lesson 1 of 4
18 min
Let's begin
Stand on almost any hill in Rwanda and count what you see: a banana plantation around a house, beans and maize on terraces, a cow shed, a patch of cabbages, perhaps coffee bushes or a tea estate in the distance. Nearly every family you can see is doing some kind of farming.
Agriculture feeds the country, gives most Rwandans their work and earns money from abroad. Before you study soils, tools, crops and animals in this course, you need a clear idea of what agriculture is and why a whole country depends on it.
Agriculture is the art and science of cultivating the soil, growing crops and rearing livestock to produce food, raw materials and other useful products for people. A broader definition also includes growing trees (forestry) and raising fish (aquaculture).
Some key words you will meet all through this course:
| Term | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Crop | A plant grown by people for a useful product | Beans, maize, cassava |
| Livestock | Domestic animals kept for products or work | Cows, goats, pigs, chickens, rabbits |
| Food crop | Grown mainly to be eaten by the farmer's family | Sweet potatoes, beans |
| Cash crop | Grown mainly to be sold | Coffee, tea |
| Smallholder | A farmer with a small piece of land, usually worked by the family | Most Rwandan farmers, often on well under 1 hectare |
Figures: Wikipedia articles on Rwanda and on the Economy of Rwanda, read in September 2026; rounded.
Question: A country produces 480,000 tonnes of beans in a year and has 12 million people. (These round numbers are illustrative, close to Rwanda's 2019 figures.) (a) How many kilograms of beans is that per person per year? (b) About how many grams per person per day?
(a) Convert tonnes to kilograms: 480,000 t × 1,000 = 480,000,000 kg.
Per person: 480,000,000 kg ÷ 12,000,000 people = 40 kg per person per year.
(b) 40 kg = 40,000 g. Per day: 40,000 g ÷ 365 ≈ 110 g per person per day, about a cupful of dry beans.
Interpretation: beans are a main source of protein in Rwandan meals, so the size of the bean harvest directly affects how well families are fed. If the harvest falls by a quarter because of drought, each person's share falls by a quarter too.
Tip
Memory hook: tune in to FIRE FM for the importance of agriculture: Food, Income, Raw materials, Employment, Foreign exchange, Market for industrial goods.
Exam technique: for "explain the importance" questions, give the point AND a Rwandan example. "Foreign exchange: coffee and tea are exported and earn dollars" scores more than "foreign exchange" alone.
Try each question before reading the solution.
Define agriculture.
Solution: Agriculture is the art and science of cultivating the soil, growing crops and rearing livestock to produce food, raw materials and other useful products for people.
Explain why agriculture is described as both an art and a science.
Solution: It is an art because it needs practical skills learned by practice, such as handling tools and animals. It is a science because it uses knowledge tested by experiment, such as improved seed, soil testing and vaccines.
Distinguish between a food crop and a cash crop, giving one Rwandan example of each.
Solution: A food crop is grown mainly to feed the farmer's family (sweet potatoes, beans). A cash crop is grown mainly to be sold (coffee, tea). Some crops, such as Irish potatoes, can be both.
Give three ways in which a tea factory depends on agriculture, and one way agriculture depends on factories.
Solution: The factory depends on farmers for green tea leaf (its raw material), on farm families for workers, and on the farming area for its local market. Agriculture depends on factories for tools such as hoes and wheelbarrows, and for fertilisers.
A district produces 36,000 tonnes of maize for 300,000 people. How many kilograms is that per person per year?
Solution: 36,000 t × 1,000 = 36,000,000 kg. 36,000,000 ÷ 300,000 = 120 kg per person per year.
Summary
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
