Contribution of wetland agriculture to farmers' livelihood in Rwanda

N.L. Nabahungu and S.M. Visser

Ecological Economics, 2011, vol. 71, issue C, 4-12

Abstract: This study analyzes factors that contribute to the livelihood of smallholder farmers living in the vicinity of the Cyabayaga and Rugeramigozi wetlands. Three tools were used: 1) focus group discussion 2) formal surveys and 3) Monitoring for Quality Improvement (MONQI). Farming systems in wetlands and on hillsides differ. Level of education, resource availability, land ownership and location have an important impact on the location and type of farming systems practiced by households. The dependency of households on wetlands varies between sites. Field size, status of soil fertility and input use are also key factors determining the level of contribution that wetland agriculture makes to farmers' livelihood. In Cyabayaga, the per household per year contribution of wetland cultivation to gross margin (GM) was 74% ($1901) compared to 24% ($84) in Rugeramigozi. The rice in Cyabayaga was the largest contributor to household income providing on average $1045 per household per season. Vegetables cultivated in the dry season in Rugeramigozi have high potential as cash crops. Poor maintenance of drainage and irrigation channels as well as inappropriate cropping systems in wetlands can undermine sustainability and have repercussions for the livelihoods of farmers dependent on agricultural wetlands.

Keywords: Agriculture; Farmers' livelihood; Smallholder farmers; Wetland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092180091100303X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:71:y:2011:i:c:p:4-12

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2011.07.028

Access Statistics for this article

Ecological Economics is currently edited by C. J. Cleveland

More articles in Ecological Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().