“Crop Intensification Program as a tool of poverty reduction in Rwanda”: A case study of rice farmers in Southern Province

Abstract

Agricultural development is considered as a key pillar in growth and significantly reduces poverty and hunger in our country. As Rwanda progress towards economic development, considerable efforts should be made to uplift the agricultural sector that employs 80% of population through diversified and intensified production in order to change the citizen’ livelihood. In attempt to address this issue, the government of Rwanda through MINAGRI has put remarkable efforts on crop intensification program (CIP) which have demonstrated potentials of achieving tangible results in terms of food security. Since the launching in September 2007, the Crop Intensification Program has positively impacted and improved the livelihood of rice crop farmers in Southern Province as confirmed by farmers from selected four (4) cooperatives namely: KIABR/Rugeramigozi, COOPRORIZ-Cyiri, COOPRORIZ-Abahuzabikorwa/Mukunguri and COOPRORIZ-Busoro/Kinyegenyege. This study intended to show the contribution of Crop Intensification Program toward poverty reduction in Rwanda. Specific objectives includes to determine the contribution of Crop Intensification Program to the livelihood of rice farmers in southern Province, to determine the role of Crop Intensification to the rice value addition, to highlight challenges being faced by rice farmers and CIP implementers and finally to highlight success factors of Crop Intensification Program. The methodology used to collect data includes interviews and questionnaires for primary data while for gathering secondary data, both electronic and hard books articles and reports relate to the topic were used. It was observed that the Crop Intensification Program has lifted up the livelihood of rice farmers in Southern province where 90.4% declared to have sufficient food for their household while 94.7% afford to have their own houses, sending children to schools and afford medical care. The CIP has demonstrated potentials of increasing job opportunities where 91% of rice farmers offer temporary jobs to other people and 97.9% possess saving accounts. The study also revealed that CIP has increased the production of rice both in quality and in quantity. This lead to an increase in the overall rice productivity, thus, increasing income to rice farmers. Some confirmed that their income has increased by a half, for others the income doubled while others testified to have tripled their income. However, challenges were highlighted from both CIP implementers and rice farmers from selected cooperatives. Among these challenged are low selling price of rice, to get manure easily is still a challenge, lack of adequate infrastructure, land consolidation still challenging, insufficient of selected seeds and lack of knowledge.