In Rwanda, agricultural processing at a forced march

Seeds, inputs, quotas... For the past ten years, the State has been closely supervising agriculture in order to increase yields, at the risk of weakening the poorest farmers.

Facing the peaceful blue waters of Lake Kivu, the hills sculpted into terraces seem inert, almost inanimate. Yet up there, machines are running at full throttle. The volcanic soils of the Rutsiro district in western Rwanda are used to grow Arabica coffee, which will fill cups in London or New York. "Twenty years ago, we didn't even produce 10 tonnes a year. Last year, we were at 1,500," says Gervais Kayitare, technical director of the Kopakama cooperative, which was set up in 1998, four years after the genocide of the Tutsis that killed 800,000 people, according to the UN. "At the time, all the coffee plantations had been destroyed. We had to start from scratch. »

Encouraged by the government to bring their family micro plots together to increase their yields, the 48 small farmers who previously lived on less than 5 euros a month have become businessmen and women. "We export to the United Kingdom and the United States. Our coffee is labelled 'fair trade' and we are aiming for organic certification," Mr. Kayitare proudly adds.

Aujourd’hui, la coopérative compte près de 700 membres. Grâce aux subventions de l’Etat et du Fonds international de développement agricole (IFAD), une agence onusienne, Kopakama s’est dotée de deux unités de lavage de café, dont les machines atteignent une capacité de 120 kilos par heure. « Nous pouvons produire du café de qualité, aux normes et en masse, puis négocier les prix sur le marché international », se réjouit un membre du comité de direction. Depuis quelques années, l’eau utilisée pour laver le café est recyclée afin d’alimenter l’électricité des villages alentour. « L’objectif est de faire profiter tout le district de cette réussite », affirme le directeur technique.

Land pressure

In 2007, an intensification programme to prioritize six crops (maize, wheat, cassava, beans, potatoes and rice) for marketing and export was imposed on farmers. Across the country, from swamps to mountains, the government has terraced land, hedges have been planted to combat erosion, and dykes are now retaining water to irrigate plots threatened by drought, particularly in the east of the country.

On the winding roads through the "thousand hills" that have given the country its nickname, one can recognize the presence of the authorities by the signs with "RAB" at the entrance to the farms: the Rwanda Agriculture Board, whose agronomists and other government technicians have been sent to the countryside to train farmers, provide subsidized inputs and set production quotas.

Kopakama is one of the "success stories" that the government and donors, led by the United States, like to highlight. For the past decade or so, Rwanda has been playing its full role as an assiduous student of the "green revolution" initiated on a forced march by its president, Paul Kagame, and supported by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The state has set itself the goal of maximizing agrarian production through cash crops, commercialization and modernization of agriculture, while at least 37% of Rwandan children under the age of 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition, according to official figures.

This is an ambitious project in this small, hilly country in Central Africa, which has the highest population density on the continent (500 inhabitants per km2) and is expected to see its population of 12 million double in the next 30 years. Its isolation in the Great Lakes region and its rugged terrain, already subject to erosion problems and the risks of drought and flooding, aggravate land pressure, which is not unrelated to the 1994 genocide. With an average of 0.7 hectares per family, 70 per cent of peasants barely have enough land to feed themselves.

Legionary caterpillars

A year ago, in the Busasamana plains near the Burundian border, maize fields were invaded by fall armyworms, an insect pest that mainly attacks maize. "There were holes in the plants, half of the crop was destroyed. And since we were forced to plant only corn, it was ruined," says Callixte, a 50-year-old farmer and father of five. We suffered a lot: I couldn't afford to pay the health insurance, nor my children's school supplies and uniforms. "His family's survival, their diet, access to health and education... everything depends on the benefits he reaps at the end of the season. On average, 40 euros every four months. When asked if he buys meat, Callixte laughs: "I buy chicken once a year. Eggs, once in a while. »

"When we found the insects, we immediately informed the authorities. "Callixte was visited by an agronomist sent by the RAB and experts from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), who provided him with pesticides, insect traps and advice. "The battle was hard but we were able to save the new crops," sighed the farmer. "There is real progress in terms of productivity. But by planting the same species, soils have become poorer and production has become more sensitive to climate change, diseases, pests...," says An Ansoms, a professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium.
By imposing specific monocultures, the Rwandan government has also installed a dependence on chemical fertilizers, improved seeds and pesticides. "State-sponsored innovation techniques have changed the composition of the soil, which has become dependent on fertilizers," she says. But even if they are partly subsidized, chemical inputs are still too expensive for small farmers, who are forced to go into debt or sell their land. Some seeds that are half-financed by the state are only available to farmers with at least one hectare, which is very rare in Rwanda, or registered in a cooperative. But here again, the low but compulsory admission fees are still too expensive for the poorest farmers.

Prior to the crop intensification programme and land consolidation, small-scale farmers used to plant an average of eight different varieties to minimize the risk of loss and ensure their food security. Paradoxically, while farmers are earning more today, they are no longer able to feed themselves as they used to. "Their margin for price negotiation is limited. Rather, it is the middlemen who benefit most from these marketing chains," An Ansoms laments. At the same time, farmers face high inflation on products that are no longer grown locally. All this negatively affects food security, especially for small-scale farmers. »

Informal channels

Faced with prices imposed by large traders "mostly well connected to the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)," according to one knowledgeable observer, informal channels have developed: trucks of merchandise drive at night towards the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to sell products at a more attractive rate. This is extremely dangerous," the same source continued. Especially since the campaigns are closely monitored: agents are everywhere and the cooperative organization allows better control of what is done on the farms. »

What happens when farmers cannot comply with the system? At best a fine, at worst prison," says a knowledgeable source. If a farmer plants a crop different from the one imposed by the district agronomist, the army or the police can destroy the entire plantation. "The Land Tenure Act of 2005 also allows the government to expropriate land "for public purposes", with compensation that is not always adequate. "Some people are afraid that the government will confiscate their land and redistribute it if they are not productive enough or do not comply with the new rules," says Neil Dawson, a professor at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom. This anguish obsesses Rwandans, who are traditionally very attached to their land, often the only inheritance they have to pass on to their children.
"These agricultural policies are widely welcomed as they increase the income of some. But without targeted aid for the poorest or an assessment of their impacts, they can easily become the antithesis of the fight against poverty," warns Dawson, author of a study on the limits of the agricultural revolution. Researcher An Ansoms nuances: "Authorities are increasingly open to discussions about the flaws in the system. The legitimacy of a decision coming from a decentralized authority can be questioned. However, the model as such remains indisputable. »

Outside Kigali, where the service sector is developing, it is very difficult to find an alternative. On the Rwandan shore of Lake Kivu, 32-year-old Paul (first name changed) has found work on the coffee plantations of the Kopakama cooperative. Like him, landless farmers are turning to seasonal jobs on the region's large farms. He sweats profusely under his flip-up cap. For the past two years, whenever the season permits, he has been hand-sorting the coffee beans on the pre-drying tables under a blazing sun. "I have work to do, but the salary is still insufficient and I don't earn the dividends from the cooperative," he explains. With the equivalent of 7 euros a week, he struggles to feed his family: "In Rwanda, when you don't have land, you are nothing. »

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