AbstractThis study aimed to evaluate the frequency of protein-rich food consumption among impoverished rural households in Rwanda. Data from the Rwanda Institute of Statistics, gathered nationally ...from a random sample of 9,709 households in 2018, was utilized for a comprehensive analysis of the food security and vulnerability survey. Given the dependent variable’s nature, a diverse econometric approach was employed to identify the factors influencing the weekly consumption of key protein-rich foods (milk, meat, and beans) in Rwandan families. An instrumental variable technique was applied to assess the impact of a unified land use policy on the consumption of protein-rich foods in Rwandan households, considering the lack of a direct relationship with welfare outcomes in theory. The results indicate that land consolidation significantly influences the consumption of meat and pulses. Additionally, cattle ownership has a notable impact on milk and pulse intake. In light of these findings, we recommend that the government and development partners enhance support for farmers, particularly by providing subsidized farm inputs and increasing the distribution of cattle to eligible low-income households.
AbstractThis study delves into the multifaceted relationship between student satisfaction and academic performance in undergraduate economics. While prior research often overlooks the complex ...interplay of these factors with cognitive potential, prior knowledge, and gender, this investigation sheds light on their combined influence on student success. Data collected from 115 economics students at the University of Rwanda were analyzed using an econometric approach both maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) and ordinary least squares (OLS) and t-test. The findings reveal interesting gender differences: female students reported higher satisfaction, suggesting stronger self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation, while male students showed superior academic performance. Additionally, factors like level of study and personal laptop access impacted satisfaction, while higher cognitive abilities, deeper engagement with the field, and prior math background positively predicted academic achievement. Intriguingly, the study found that female students performed lower despite higher satisfaction levels, prompting further research into potential explanations. Additionally, older students exhibited lower performance, highlighting the need for understanding age-related factors influencing academic success. These findings advocate for a multifaceted approach to supporting student success in economics. By prioritizing student satisfaction, fostering individual cognitive potential, and delivering tailored support based on diverse needs (including gender and age), educational institutions can create the optimal conditions for all economics students to flourish.
•Estimates the effects of the one cow policy on welfare indicators among households in Rwanda.•Models the selection bias and the placement effect associated with the Girinka policy.•Shows the ...importance of wealth and learning effects for the outcome of receiving a dairy cow.•The program is linked to spillovers suggesting that the Girinka effect is not isolated to the first receiving household.
This study estimates the effects of the one cow policy on per capita consumption and the value of per hectare crop production in Rwanda using a random sample of households observed twice (2010 and 2014). A model that accounts for heterogeneity across households and the selection bias and placement effect associated with the policy is estimated. Findings show that receiving a cow has a positive effect on crop production indicating that the cattle has enabled households to become more productive on the farm. Results point to the importance of household’s knowledge and experience of rearing livestock for the outcome of receiving a cow.
This paper aims to determine the level of food security of small-scale crop farmers and to identify coping strategies for food security mostly adopted by small-scale crop farmers in the Volcanic ...Highlands in Rwanda. Data were collected using a questionnaire administered to a random sample of 401 small scale crop producers in the study area. CARI approach and descriptive statistics were used to analyse data. This methodology was chosen by the fact that it enables to have disaggregated food security indicators. Results show that 86.61% of the sample households are food secure, while 13.39% are food insecure. These results also indicate that spending savings is the most adopted stress-coping strategy among the livelihood-based coping strategies. The most adopted among consumption-based strategies are relying on less preferred or less expensive food, and reducing the quantities consumed by adults for children. The overall CARI console analysis shows that the majority of the sampled households are not food insecure, i.e. they are not vulnerable with respect to adopted strategies to cope with food shortage. Therefore, it is recommended that strategies should be initiated to increase crop productivity and output, to guarantee market access to small-scale farmers for stable agricultural prices and farm incomes, to enhance the livelihood diversification to cope with under-employment in the agricultural sector to benefit rural non-farm sources and to complement farm incomes.
AbstractThis study employed mixed methods, including a survey of 400 households, 21 key informants, and 10 focus groups conducted in January-March 2019, to evaluate the contribution of Volcanoes ...National Park (VNP) conservation to local food security in Rwanda. Data was collected from communities within 0-5 km and 5-10 km park buffers, facilitating distance-based comparisons. Food security status was assessed using the Consolidated Approach to Reporting Indicators of Food Security. Despite government attention to food security, its integration into VNP conservation remains minimal. Shockingly, 71% of local residents experience food insecurity, concentrated within the 0-5 km buffer. Interestingly, while only 38% of households directly benefit from park conservation, 72% of these beneficiaries reside within the 0-5 km zone. This suggests that community conservation and revenue-sharing programs are disproportionately funded at the park’s edge, where human pressure on resources is most significant. These findings highlight the need for policy and strategy amendments, as well as revisions to the park management plan, to effectively integrate food security concerns into VNP conservation efforts. Linking a specified percentage of revenue-sharing funds to participation in relevant food security programs, co-managing land for conservation and community needs, weaving food aid into safety nets for vulnerable groups, prompt wildlife damage payouts for secured livelihoods and fostered coexistence, and skill training and microloans for diversifying income and curbing poaching are crucial for enhancing food security among households around the VNP.
This article analyzes determinants of farmers’ adoption decisions for agroforestry practices and the extent of adoption in rural Rwanda. The study also investigates the key constraints hindering ...smallholder farmers to adopt agroforestry. The study uses the cross-sectional data from a sample of 615 farmers and Cragg’s double-hurdle model is used for the empirical estimation. The findings show that farmers’ land ownership, cooperative membership, farming experience, market orientation, credit access, and distance to the market mainly determine adoption of agroforestry. Policies that enhance adoption of agroforestry should be consider the formation of farmers’ cooperatives and provision of door-to-door education to uneducated farmers. In addition, strategies for supporting liquidity-constrained households to get continuous and increased access to credit should be put forward. Agricultural and resources development policies should direct efforts toward increased access to institutional support services such as better extension to farmers through cooperatives to promote the adoption of agroforestry.
Onion is recognized for its nutritional value, its curative capacities and its fitness to flavor diets. This article attempted to assess the economic efficiency of input combinations among onion ...farmers in the Volcanic Highlands in Rwanda. Data were collected using a questionnaire administered to a random sample of 94 small-scale onion producers. Cobb-Douglas type stochastic frontier functions were specified and estimated using maximum likelihood method to estimate technical, allocative, and economic efficiencies of onion production. A simultaneous-equations model was specified and estimated with seemingly unrelated regression method to identify the sources of technical, allocative, and economic efficiencies. Results from econometric estimations revealed that seeds and organic fertilizers are the most influential determinants of onion production, and showed that the total production cost increases with an increase in onion output. The sum of input coefficients of 1.03 (greater than 1) indicates that onion production scores the increasing returns to scale in the study area. The results also pointed to the significant effect of education and household size on farm efficiencies. Finally, the study suggests the enhancement of farmer's professional trainings and the re-adaptation of extension services to the farmers' needs so as to achieve the optimal use of resources.
Economists use two different approaches, unitary and collective, to analyze household decisions. The unitary approach ignores the differences between single-person and multi-person households, ...whereas the collective approach states that each person in the household must be characterized by specific preferences. The household’s decisions concern mainly the allocation of their income to current consumption or for savings and future consumer expenditures. This study uses the Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA) data collected from a random sample in 2015 in Rwanda. The ordinary least squares (OLS) method was applied to a linear regression model to estimate the household demand functions (total household consumption expenditures, household food consumption expenditures and household nonfood consumption expenditures). The results show that the socioeconomic characteristics of the household, the possession of productive assets and wealth conditions as well as the household locational controls are among the primary drivers of its consumption expenditures. The findings highlight the policy efforts that improve household human capital (education, health), access to and capitalization of productive assets and financial capital, continuous urbanization of rural areas, and sustained provision of quality infrastructure, to achieve high standards of household welfare.
Cet article vise à analyser la rentabilité des petits exploitants de la pomme de terre dans la région des sols de laves au Rwanda. Les données utilisées ont été collectées auprès de 132 producteurs ...choisis de façon aléatoire. Les méthodes d’analyse budgétaire, de la comparaison de la valeur de la production aux couts de production, et d’analyse corrélationnelle ont été employées dans l’analyse des données. Les résultats de l’analyse budgétaire montrent que la production de la pomme de terre est rentable et que la rentabilité est sensible à une baisse de rendement ainsi qu’à une hausse des coûts de production. Par comparaison, l’analyse de sensibilité montre que les effets de la diminution de l’offre sur le revenu net sont plus néfastes que ceux de l’augmentation du coût de production. Pour améliorer le niveau de rentabilité, les producteurs de pomme de terre devraient adopter des pratiques agricoles susceptibles de booster la productivité. L’analyse corrélationnelle met en évidence une relation positive et significative entre le revenu agricole net et les autres indicateurs, notamment l’expérience de l’exploitant et la surface des terres exploitées. Ces variables sont des facteurs qu’il faut considérer pour maintenir et/ou améliorer le niveau de rentabilité agricole.
The profitability of potato production in the volcanic highlands in Rwanda This article aims to analyze the profitability of potato small-scale producers in Volcanic Highlands in Rwanda. Data used were collected from a random sample of 132 producers. Different methods namely accounting method, cost-benefit analysis and correlation analysis were used in the analysis of data. The results from the budgetary analysis show that the potato production is profitable and that the profitability is sensitive to the shock of production and the increase in the cost of production. By comparison, the results from sensitivity analysis of net farm income show that a decrease in potato production generates more effects than the increase in the cost of fertilizers. To improve the level of profitability, potato growers must adopt farming practices that boost the productivity. By the correlational method, the coefficient is positive and significant between net farm income and other factors namely the cost of production, the selling price, the farmer’s experience and the size of the cultivated land. These are factors that must be considered to maintain and/or improve the level of agricultural profitability.
Rwanda’s Land Policy Reform promotes agri-business and encourages self-employment. This paper aims to analyze the situation from a self-employment perspective when dealing with expropriation risk in ...rural areas. In this study, we conducted a structured survey addressed to 63 domestic units, complemented by focus groups of 47 participants from Kimonyi Sector. The binary logistic regression analysis revealed that having job alternatives, men heading domestic units, literacy skills in English, and owning land lease certificates (p < 0.05) are positively and significantly related to awareness of land expropriation risk. The decision of the head of the domestic unit to practice the main activity under self-employment status is positively influenced by owning a land lease certificate, number of plots, and French skills, while skills in English and a domestic unit’s size have a positive and significant influence on involvement in a second activity as self-employed. Information on expropriation risk has no significant effect on self-employment. The domestic unit survey revealed that 34.9% of the heads of domestic units only have one job, 47.6% have at least two jobs in their everyday life, 12.7% have a minimum of three jobs, and 4.8% are inactive. The focus group synthesis exposed the limits to self-employment ability and facilities.
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