Applicability of conservation agriculture for climate change adaptation in Rwanda’s situation

Improving food security and environmental conservation should be the main targets of innovative farming systems. Conservation agriculture (CA), based on minimum tillage, crop residue retention and crop rotations has been proposed against poor agricultural productivity and soil degradation. This paper discusses the applicability and potential benefits of CA in Rwanda under the unfolding climate change scenario. The potential and benefits from CA may vary with rainfall regime. In high rainfall areas (For example North and West of Rwanda), the soils are susceptible to soil erosion and face fertility decline while in low rainfall areas (For example East of Rwanda) crops fail due to sub-optimal water use efficiency. Furthermore, low organic carbon content lower fertilisers response and government targets of increasing production through Crop Intensification Program, is limited. It has been shown that CA can: Reduce soil loss from 35.5 to 14.5 t/ha/year, have 50-70% greater infiltration and increase 42% of organic carbon. Long term analysis using Agricultural Production System Simulator showed that CA can increase yield from 3.6 to 4.4t/ha in areas having >770 mm. Based on the evidence from regional research, CA has a good potential for climate change adaptation in both high and low rainfall areas of Rwanda. However, decreased yield observed in high rainfall areas, increased labour requirements when herbicides are not used and lack of mulch due to priority given to feeding of livestock constrained CA adoption. We conclude that there is a need for critical assessment under which ecological and socio economic conditions CA is suited for smallholder farming in Rwanda

The use of mobile phones and the heterogeneity of banana farmers in Rwanda

Open Access Article; Published online: 29 Mar 2022Information and communications technologies (ICTs) play a key role in improving agricultural production, enhancing socio-ecological resilience, and mitigating rural poverty. However, the use of ICTs for agricultural development among smallholder farmers, especially in the least developed countries, still lags behind. It is therefore critical to understand distinct attitudes among heterogeneous smallholder farmers that determine use of ICTs, such as mobile phones. Moreover, data-driven empirical studies on the use of mobile phones in smallholder settings are still scarce. We bridge this knowledge gap by evaluating the link between the use of mobile phones and various farming types of smallholder farmers in Rwanda. Using the principal component and cluster analysis, we analyzed 690 banana farming households across eight of the 10 major agro-ecological zones of Rwanda and developed a typology of banana farms. We identified three distinct farm types based on a combination of various farmer characteristics and farm operations and endowments, namely the beer banana, livestock-based, and the cooking banana farm types. These farm types clearly differ in terms of ownership and use of both basic and smart mobile devices. Farmers in the cooking banana farm type are far more likely to own and use smart mobile phones than in other types. Regression results further indicated that farm type, gender, and education have significant correlations with the perceived usefulness of mobile phones in agriculture. Major barriers to using ICT-based agricultural services were 1) low awareness of the existence of ICT services, 2) limited availability of ICT services, 3) lack of technical know-how, 4) relatively high prices of ICT devices, and 5) low levels of ICT literacy. This empirical study provides strategically important insights for the transition to digital agriculture in the context of smallholder farming systems

Implications of tillage practices, management of soil surface and fertilizer application on sustainable dryland agriculture: a case study of Eastern Rwanda

Open Access Journal; Published online: 03 August 2017Conservation agriculture (CA) is becoming popular in sub-Saharan Africa as potential solution to soil degradation. However, most findings are based on large scale, mechanized agricultural production systems which are not easy to apply within the smallholder farmer’s context. This study assessed the implications of tillage practices, management of soil surface and fertilizer application on sustainable dryland agriculture of Eastern Rwanda. The experimental design was Split Plot with 4 replications. The main plots were conventional tillage (CT) and no tillage (NT) and sub-plots were: Control, sole residues application (RR); residues application with inorganic fertilizers (RR+IF) and inorganic fertilizers (IF) applied alone. Inorganic fertilizers application increased bean grain and biomass yield by 103%. In no tillage inorganic fertilizers had higher maize grain and biomass yields whereas residues application had 68% higher maize grain and biomass yield in conventional tillage. The significant increase in organic carbon was observed in residues applied with inorganic fertilizers. There was a significant N decrease in all treatments however control and residues had the highest N pool compared to other treatments. Sole residues application and residues applied with inorganic fertilizers treatment increased significantly Available P. The use of inorganic fertilizers in conservation agriculture systems should be promoted as the engine toward successful of CA practices for Bugesera district conditions. These results provide a basis for conducting trade-off analyses to support the development of CA crop management and international development strategies based on available scientific evidence

Estimation of soil erosion risk, its valuation and economic implications for agricultural production in western part of Rwanda

Open Access Article; Published online: 10 Sept 2017Multifunctional soil conservation strategies have the capacity to control soil erosion as well as increase its quality, thus leading to sustained yields as long as planners have knowledge on the severity of soil loss. A comprehensive methodology that integrates Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques was adopted to determine the soil erosion vulnerability within Katabuvuga, Nyamyumba and Mukamira watersheds in western part of Rwanda, with the aim of supporting planning of land and water management interventions. The dominant slop class in all watershed was 16-40% covering 50% in Katabuvuga watershed, 43% in Mukamira watershed and 70.6% in Nyamyumba watershed. High erosion risk was recorded in Mukamira (72 %) and it was followed by Nyamyumba (46 %). The average soil loss in selected watersheds was 32t/ha/year. Among the various studied watershed, highest average loss was reported in Nyamyumba watershed (37t/ha/year) while the lowest average was in Mukamira watershed (28t/ha/year). Soil loss was higher in cropland and lower in settlement. The average loss of nutrients was 1705 kg/ha/year of carbon, 155 kg/ha/year of nitrogen, 3 kg/ha/year of phosphurus and 111 kg/ha/year of potassium, the highest nutrient loss occurred in cropland. Based on the cost of NPK the average value of N lost per ha per year is 167507 Rwandan Francs (Rwf) while the value of P and K loss per ha per year is 3309 Rwf and 120189 Rwf respectively

Applicability of conservation agriculture for climate change adaptation in Rwanda’s situation

Improving food security and environmental conservation should be the main targets of innovative farming systems. Conservation agriculture (CA), based on minimum tillage, crop residue retention and crop rotations has been proposed against poor agricultural productivity and soil degradation. This paper discusses the applicability and potential benefits of CA in Rwanda under the unfolding climate change scenario. The potential and benefits from CA may vary with rainfall regime. In high rainfall areas (For example North and West of Rwanda), the soils are susceptible to soil erosion and face fertility decline while in low rainfall areas (For example East of Rwanda) crops fail due to sub-optimal water use efficiency. Furthermore, low organic carbon content lower fertilisers response and government targets of increasing production through Crop Intensification Program, is limited. It has been shown that CA can: Reduce soil loss from 35.5 to 14.5 t/ha/year, have 50-70% greater infiltration and increase 42% of organic carbon. Long term analysis using Agricultural Production System Simulator showed that CA can increase yield from 3.6 to 4.4t/ha in areas having >770 mm. Based on the evidence from regional research, CA has a good potential for climate change adaptation in both high and low rainfall areas of Rwanda. However, decreased yield observed in high rainfall areas, increased labour requirements when herbicides are not used and lack of mulch due to priority given to feeding of livestock constrained CA adoption. We conclude that there is a need for critical assessment under which ecological and socio economic conditions CA is suited for smallholder farming in Rwanda