A proposed plant production bill seeks to formally classify farmers into small-, medium- and large-scale categories, a move the government says will help professionalise farming and improve planning across Rwanda’s agricultural sector.

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The draft law, approved by Cabinet on January 28 and expected to be tabled before Parliament, also introduces enforceable standards and penalties for offences related to farming practices, seeds, agrochemicals and plant protection.

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The proposed legislation comes as Rwanda aims to increase productivity by 50 per cent for priority crops under the second phase of the National Strategy for Transformation (NST 2), which runs from 2024/25 to 2028/29. The government has also started implementing the Food Basket Sites (FoBaSi) approach—high-potential agricultural production zones that consolidate farm plots, typically covering at least five hectares, to boost output and enhance food security.

Jean-Paul Munyakazi, a farmer and legal representative of Imbaraga Farmers’ Organisation, said the bill addresses long-standing gaps in the agricultural legal framework, particularly the lack of enforceable standards and accountability.

Munyakazi, who grows maize on eight hectares, cultivates bananas and rears pigs in Nyanza District in Southern Province, said that farmers’ organisations previously submitted proposals to the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources and to Parliament calling for legislation to better regulate farming.

Professionalising farming

His organisation had long urged the government to formally recognise and categorise farmers.

"One of the biggest challenges is that farmers are not clearly identified. Anyone without a job is considered a farmer, which makes planning difficult,” he said.

Under the proposed law, farmers will be categorised as small-, medium- or large-scale, with medium- and large-scale farmers required to register and comply with standards set by a ministerial order issued by the minister in charge of agriculture. Subsistence farmers will not be subject to the same requirements or penalties but will continue to receive advisory services through extension programmes and public announcements.

‘Help government enforce standards’

According to Patrick Karangwa, the Director General for Agriculture Modernisation at the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, the bill introduces legal instruments that will help the government to enforce farming standards.

"In the past, guidelines were issued, but there was no legal basis to enforce them. This bill seeks to address that,” he said.

Munyakazi added that his organisation had also proposed registering farmers at the district level and designing agricultural policies accordingly, rather than applying a uniform, centralised approach.

"Each district has its own specific characteristics, and certain crops are better suited to some areas than others,” he said.

His group proposed that a person be considered as an active farmer if they cultivate at least half a hectare of land.

Munyakazi explained that, given Rwanda’s population and the large number of people engaged in agriculture, the average landholding per person is close to a quarter of a hectare.

"Our view was that a person can farm in a way that sustains their household while also producing a surplus for the market. Someone cultivating at least half a hectare can meet their own needs and still have something to sell,” he said.

Munyakazi also called for special consideration for farmers engaged in specialised activities such as greenhouse farming. He noted that farmers who may not own half a hectare of land but use modern technologies or high-yield production methods should still be recognised as professional farmers.

Greenhouse farming, he said, helps retain foreign currency by reducing the need for hotels to import fruits and vegetables, enabling them instead to source from domestic producers that meet required standards.

According to the Fifth Rwanda Population and Housing Census 2022—the most recent census conducted by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda—about 2.1 million private households in Rwanda practice crop farming.