Economic Analysis of Growth Performance of Various Grains Crops During Agricultural Reform in Rwanda

The grain crops have been the main staple food crops in Rwanda, by complementing or substituting root-tubers and plantains in everyday diet. As agriculture is considered as the backbone of country's economy, its transformation was thought to be the engine of economic development. Using the time series data of 15 years, the present paper intends to analyze growth performance in the area, production, and productivity of grains crops during agricultural reforms in Rwanda. The results of the study showed that a positive and significant growth rates were recorded in the case of cultivated area and production of wheat, rice, maize, millet, beans, peas, and groundnut. Being among prioritized crops during reforms, wheat, rice, and maize experienced the highest positive growth rates in the cultivated area, production, and productivity with highly significant level (p<0.001) for all growth rates, except a non-significance case of productivity growth rate in maize. The soybeans reported positive non-significant growth rates in the area, production, and productivity while sorghum underwent a negative significant growth rate (p<0.001) in the area, a negative non-significance in production growth rate, but a positive significant growth (p<0.01) in productivity. The area under cultivation, production, and productivity of maize, wheat, rice, and soybeans were highly unstable regarding other grains crops. The cultivated area was generally the major contributor to a change of grains crop production. The influence of both area and productivity on production was highly remarkable for wheat, maize, and sorghum. This study concludes that generally, the agricultural reform has had a tremendous positive impact on growth rates of grain crops in Rwanda but it suggests policy implications to increase the productivity of some grain crops.