The National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) has conducted the Seasonal Agriculture Survey for the 2021 agricultural year that covered the season A, with the aim to provide more comprehensive data on Rwandan agriculture sector.
During 2021 Season A,data collection started from 13th December 2020 to 15th February 2021 covering 1200 segments and 325 large scale farmers’ holdings across all the country.
The results of 2021 season ASAS estimate the total country land area is estimated at 2.377 million of hectares for which 1.43 million hectares (60% of total country land) is used for agriculture.
Out of the total agricultural land, 1.1 million hectares was used for Seasonal crops in season A, nearly 0.6 million hectares are area under permanent crops, while 0.13 million ha under permanent pasture.
The overall crop area for individual crops has increased when compared to the season A of the previous year, this includes sweet potatoes (11 percent), maize (7 percent), beans (7 percent), cassava and paddy rice (5 percent), and banana(3 percent).
Likewise, the crop production has increased whereby paddy rice raised by (22 percent), beans (14 percent), Irish potatoes (8 percent), Maize(7percent), banana (5 percent) and cassava (4 percent).
Regarding to agricultural inputs, the results prove that 37.1 percent of farmers used improved seeds,67 percent of farmers applied organic fertilizer in their farms 40.9 percent of famers applied inorganic fertilizer, while 22.4 percent of farmers applied pesticides.
The survey results revealed that 9.2 percent of farmers practiced irrigation,91 percent of farmers practiced anti-erosion activities, while the use of mechanical equipment was estimated at 0.9 percent of farmers utilising them, with 38.4 percent of farmers practiced agro forestry.
By Modeste NKURIKIYIMANA
