Rwanda - Rwanda Seasonal Agricultural Survey 2024

Version 0.1 Edited anonymized dataset for public use

This is the annual report for the Seasonal Agricultural Survey (SAS) conducted by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) for the agricultural year 2023/2024, which covers three primary agricultural seasons in Rwanda. The main agricultural seasons include Season A, spanned from September 2023 to February 2024, Season B which started from March to June 2024, and Season C which started from July to September 2024.

Key findings

A comprehensive summary of the primary indicators assessed during SAS 2024 is presented in Table 0. It includes crop production, yield estimates, land use, use of agricultural inputs and agricultural practices.

Land use

In 2024 Season A, the total country land area is estimated at 2.376 million of hectares for which 1.372 million hectares (approximately 58% of total country land) is used for agriculture. 1 million hectares were used for Seasonal crops, 0.511 million hectares were covered by permanent crops, while 0.124 million hectares were used for permanent pasture. Likewise, in season B, the total country land area is estimated at 2.376 million of hectares for which 1.350 million hectares (approximately 57% of total country land) is used for agriculture. In addition, 0.987 million hectares were used for seasonal crops, 0.513 million hectares were covered by permanent crops, while 0.116 million hectares were used for permanent pasture.

Use of inputs

Common agricultural inputs include improved seeds, organic and chemical fertilizers, as well as pesticides and fungicides. In 2024, 39.7% of farmers used improved seeds in season A, 18% in season B, and 18.8% in season C. The use of organic fertilizers was higher, with 89.1% of farmers applying them in season A, 80.1% in season B, and 78.8 % in season C. In contrast, the use of inorganic fertilizers varied, with 64.5% of farmers using them in season A, 52% in season B, and 60.4 % in season C. Regarding pesticides and fungicides, 39.8% of farmers applied them in season A, 30.2% in season B, and 59.8 % in season C.

Agricultural practices

In season A of 2024, 7.5 percent of farmers practiced irrigation compared to 12.1 percent of farmers in season B and 58.2 percent in season C. In 2024 Season A, 90.6 percent of farmers practiced anti-erosion activities, compared to 89.2 percent of farmers in season B and 92.9 percent of farmers in season C.

This seasonal agriculture survey focused on the following units of analysis: Small scale agricultural farms and large scale farms