Rwanda is an agricultural country with around 90% of the population engaged in agricultural production.
Subsistence agriculture is mostly carried out in Rwanda. Another feature of Rwanda Agriculture is the presence of small farms owned by the families.
Rwanda Agriculture includes food crops like plantains, sweet potatoes, cassava, dry beans, sorghum. The advantage of Rwanda Agriculture with regard to cultivation is the presence of fertile soil. The soil present in the alluvial valley and towards the north west has a good humus content that supports crops. Only a few regions in Rwanda are extremely eroded thereby hindering agriculture.
The major cash crops of Rwanda Agriculture include tea and coffee that contribute towards export earning for the country. Tea and Coffee together have a contribution of around 80% towards the economy of Rwanda. Besides this, Rwanda is also engaged in the export of quinine and Pyrethrum.
In recent years many projects and measures have been taken up by the government with the aim of increasing agricultural productivity. These measures aim at improving the conditions of living and eradicating poverty that is one of the major problem faced by the country.
The Partnership for Enhancing Agriculture in Rwanda through Linkages (PEARL) is a project taken up with the aim of creating income sources for the rural people through the development of agricultural product.
Famines that struck Rwanda in the 1920's and 1940's claimed many lives. To prevent such situations from striking again the government has come up with measures that include the cultivation of rice by experts from Taiwan and China to increase productivity.
