IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aaae07/52131.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Recent Developments in the Rwandan Agriculture: The Challenges of Attaining Food Security and Abolishing Absolute Poverty

Author

Listed:
  • Jose, Ariyappillil Mathai

Abstract

The paper intends to take stock of the situation in the agricultural sector of Rwanda. The main purpose is to identify the gaps in the efforts so far; and subsequently to consider new policy interventions that are needed to achieve the goal of eliminating the ‘Fear of Want’. The sector’s performance is crucial in achieving the MDGs in the country. Noteworthy is that the largest part of Rwandan population agriculture is a livelihood and for the policy makers the sector is continuing to be a development problem. This paper analyzes the links between agriculture, food security and poverty reduction in Rwanda based on available secondary data. It is done in light of two important happenings in the country development scenario after the completion of the reconstruction phase (after war and genocide) of 1994-98. The first is related to the overall development strategy that is followed by the country. Rwanda has set a clear strategy of development in the form of VISION 2020 and also a programme for poverty reduction in the form of PRSP. The second important development was with respect to sector specific initiatives. Four important initiatives merit mentioning- ‘The Strategy and Action Plan for Food security’, ‘The National Agricultural Policy’, the ‘Strategic Plan for Agricultural Transformation’ and the ‘Long-Term Framework for The Implementation of The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) in Rwanda’. All these plans were framed for an exhaustive transformation of the agriculture sector so as to bring about the necessary change that is needed to face the challenges of abolishing absolute poverty and hunger. The following hypothesis was framed to guide the analysis: a more productive and profitable agricultural sector is the necessary component in meeting the challenges of attaining food security and abolishing absolute poverty in Rwanda. This hypothesis reflects Rwanda’s national perspective and linked to the country’s development plans (PRSP and VISION 2020) and policies. Analysis enabled to oversee the hypothesis in order to arrive at plausible conclusions related to Rwanda’s agricultural sector performance during last six years (1999-2005). Some crucial areas like cropping pattern, incentives, agricultural prices, public distribution system, implementation of land reform measures etc needs the right attention. If the agricultural sceptics have their way, most Rwandans will face a bleak future of worsening poverty and hunger.

Suggested Citation

  • Jose, Ariyappillil Mathai, 2008. "Recent Developments in the Rwandan Agriculture: The Challenges of Attaining Food Security and Abolishing Absolute Poverty," 2007 Second International Conference, August 20-22, 2007, Accra, Ghana 52131, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaae07:52131
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.52131
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/52131/files/Jose.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.52131?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Prabhu Pingali, 2007. "Agricultural growth and economic development: a view through the globalization lens," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 37(s1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. McKay, Andrew & Loveridge, Scott, 2005. "Income and Nutritional Outcomes in Rwanda's Rural Areas, 1990 and 2000," Food Security International Development Policy Syntheses 11446, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    3. Swaminathan, M. S., 1996. "Science and Technology for Sustainable Food Security," Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, vol. 51(1-2), June.
    4. Tony Addison, 2005. "Agricultural Development for Peace," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2005-07, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fenske, James, 2011. "Land tenure and investment incentives: Evidence from West Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 137-156, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David Colman, 2010. "Agriculture's terms of trade: issues and implications," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 41(s1), pages 1-15, November.
    2. Genesis T. Yengoh & Frederick Ato Armah & Edward Ebo Onumah, 2010. "Paths to Attaining Food Security: The Case of Cameroon," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 1(1), pages 1-22, August.
    3. Isaac G. K. Ansah & Munkaila Lambongang & Samuel A. Donkoh, 2020. "Ghana’s Planting for Food and Jobs Programme: A Look at the Role of Capability in Farmers’ Participation," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(2), pages 161-182, April.
    4. World Bank, 2020. "Promoting Agri-Food Sector Transformation in Bangladesh," World Bank Publications - Reports 33832, The World Bank Group.
    5. Muriithi, Beatrice W. & Matz, Julia Anna, 2015. "Welfare effects of vegetable commercialization: Evidence from smallholder producers in Kenya," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 80-91.
    6. Wainaina, Priscilla Wairimu & Tongruksawattana, Songporne & Qaim, Matin, 2014. "Improved seeds, fertilizer or natural resource management? Evidence from Kenya’s smallholder maize farmers," 2014 International Congress, August 26-29, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia 182644, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    7. Ansari, S. A. & Khan, W., 2018. "Relevance of Declining Agriculture in Economic Development of South Asian Countries: An Empirical Analysis," AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, vol. 10(2).
    8. Muriithi, Beatrice W., 2013. "Does commercialization of smallholder horticulture reduce rural poverty? Evidence based on household panel data from Kenya," 2013 Fourth International Conference, September 22-25, 2013, Hammamet, Tunisia 161563, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    9. Wainaina, Priscilla & Tongruksawattana, Songporne & Qaim, Matin, 2014. "Tradeoffs and Complementarities in the Adoption of Improved Seeds, Fertilizer, and Natural Resource Management Technologies in Kenya," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 189914, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    10. Kumar, Anjani & Roy, Devesh & Joshi, Pramod K. & Tripathi, Gaurav & Adhikari, Rajendra P., 2016. "Impact of Contract Farming on Profits and Yield of Smallholder Farms in Nepal: An Evidence from Lentil Cultivation," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235848, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    11. Vandercasteelen, Joachim & Beyene, Seneshaw Tamru & Minten, Bart & Swinnen, Johan, 2018. "Cities and agricultural transformation in Africa: Evidence from Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 383-399.
    12. Schwarz, Jana & Mathijs, Erik & Maertens, Miet, 2015. "Changing patterns of global agri-food trade and virtual water flows," Working Papers 200308, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Centre for Agricultural and Food Economics.
    13. Marcia F. Kwaramba & Srinivas Sridharan & Felix T. Mavondo, 2023. "Drivers and outcomes of smallholder market participation in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(5), pages 1165-1183, September.
    14. Anjani Kumar & Devesh Roy & Gaurav Tripathi, 2016. "Contracting by Small Farmers in Commodities with Export Potential: Assessing Farm Profits of Lentil Growers in Nepal," Working Papers id:10899, eSocialSciences.
    15. Shruti Kanga & Suraj Kumar Singh & Gowhar Meraj & Anup Kumar & Ruby Parveen & Nikola Kranjčić & Bojan Đurin, 2022. "Assessment of the Impact of Urbanization on Geoenvironmental Settings Using Geospatial Techniques: A Study of Panchkula District, Haryana," Geographies, MDPI, vol. 2(1), pages 1-10, January.
    16. Onyebuchi Iwegbu & Leonardo Bornacki Mattos, 2022. "Financial development, trade globalisation and agricultural output performance among BRICS and WAMZ member countries," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(8), pages 1-27, August.
    17. Balogh, Peter & Ertsey, Imre & Szucs, Istvan, 2009. "Answer to the challenges of the 21st century in the Hungarian pig sector," 2009 Conference, August 16-22, 2009, Beijing, China 51027, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Bart Minten, 2008. "The Food Retail Revolution in Poor Countries: Is It Coming or Is It Over?," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(4), pages 767-789, July.
    19. Sally Brooks & Michael Loevinsohn, 2011. "Shaping agricultural innovation systems responsive to food insecurity and climate change," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(3), pages 185-200, August.
    20. Joshi, N.P., 2018. "Factors affecting adoption of commercial vegetable farming among vegetable growers in Nepal: A probit analysis," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 276041, International Association of Agricultural Economists.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:aaae07:52131. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaaeaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.