Rural Rwanda: the capital is not the country

Kigali to Goma Jan 15^th 2011

That a capital city is not the country is something to keep in mind, and once you have departed Kigali and entered the hills and mountains of rural Rwanda you are face to face with the reality that this is a very poor and over crowded country—the most densely populated in Africa. Every square foot of land is utlised in some way, the slopes of the hills are terraced and homes and villages are tightly packed tightly up against farm fields. Away from the glitter and ambitious plans of the capital, rural Rwanda has not changed much in recent years. But it has not changed for the worse, either, and the government is mindful that 80% of its people still make a living from agriculture and it is a large and preoccupying government priority.

As our bus making the three hour journey down to Gisenyi and the DRC border climbs the hills out of Kigali and into the countryside it is worth noting what counts as signs of rural prosperity. Most of these rural homes have new and shiny tin roofs rather than thatch or rusting metal—if you can’t eat you don’t buy roofing sheets—and  there are bicycles and signs of rural commerce in the small towns and villages along the route. People are growing surpluses and trading in the markets for what else they need. By these small, even subtle, indicators the signs of a vibrant rural economy can be discerned.

My seat mate is a professor in rural development at the University of Kigali, and is originally from Congo, specifically Maniema province, to the north of Nord Kivu, my destination today. My friend does not want to talk much of Maniema—and I am not surprised: is was and is still one of the most violent and conflict ridden areas of Congo and has been for a decade and a half. But he does want to talk about agriculture and says that Rwanda faces very serious “challenges”. Population density is high and growing and the land, a finite resource, must produce more if rural incomes are to rise. Most African agriculture is low or zero input farming—next to no use of fertiliser—natural or chemical—and this occurs for a reason: it is more efficient for farmers to carry on with land extensive farming methods: moving on to another plot of land when existing fields are exhausted. This works fine as long as there is a land frontier, although in Rwanda that option closed long ago. So the challenge is to increase use of external inputs.

But the devilish role of fertiliser in African agriculture is to earn a sufficient return to pay for it and other improved methods such as hybrid seeds, something that was the basis for the Green Revolution in India and played such a strong role in increasing output and reducing rural poverty there from the 1960s. African agriculture has been struggling for decades to find and make its own Green Revolution work. Could Rwanda, with its dense rural population and agricultural intensiveness, hold the key? Perhaps, but not yet, and anyway the reality is a lot more complicated.

The professor explains that farmers love to use chemical fertiliser here, they just don’t want to have to pay for it. It is also not readily available through normal market-based distribution methods: stores and commercial supply networks operating at full cost recovery like every other consumer product. Instead, most fertiliser is distributed through a network of government and aid agency programmes and sold with a subsidy. In other words, fertiliser is not yet paying for itself, or at least not enough for most farmers to use it without assistance. If Rwanda, with its dense population, agricultural intensiveness and good road transportation and rural marketing networks cannot make external input farming work, then what of the rest of Africa?

My friend says that the government has been working on a new agricultural policy and is getting much technical assistance from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), one of the largest donors in Rwanda and one with its own strong in-house expertise in agriculture. International best practices in agricultural development, such as there are, is being brought to bear in Rwanda. Fertiliser use is increasing, he says, including organic methods and there is now greater integration and synergies between livestock and farming. The government is also encouraging farmers in a given area to band together and specialise in certain crops, making them a more visible group to work with and direct technical and other assistance to. Will it all work, will Rwanda be the “break through” country for African agriculture? I don’t know, but the sure are trying and that is at least half the point.

By this time our bus is going through steep mountains and hills; the road has a precipitous drop on the down slope and we pass recent accidents involving large trucks that have left the road and are lying upturned and ruined with groups of passengers sitting beside them on the road waiting for the next ride. In the distance are the Ruwenzori mountains, the home of the mountain gorillas, and the country’s main tourist attraction. Two Australians, who are the only tourists on the bus, get off here at Ruhengeri town, heading for Volcanoes National Park.

As we continue the professor remarks that as a Congolese he likes Rwanda and admires local qualities of discretion and courtesy. There are a few boisterous young men across the isle, and he points and says: “you see them? They are Ugandans, they are loud, exuberant even, they talk and don’t notice or care if they are disturbing other people. Rwandans are not like that. But they are also not so joyful and outgoing like the Ugandans or the Congolese. I don’t know why this is so, but it is, and even you can’t help but notice, can you? Maybe it is because they are so many people living close together”. This is very true: discretion really is the middle name for Rwandans. But perhaps it is also true that it comes from two peoples living in close proximity but with a history of conflict. Here it pays to keep a low profile and not share your opinions.

By now we are noticeably making the slow descent down from the highlands toward Lake Kivu and the landscape looks rougher, with volcanic rock visible in the fields. When the lake comes in view, we are at the town of Gisenyi and the DRC border. At this my friend, who is going to an academic conference in Gisenyi, remarks: “There is Congo, they have great wealth and resources but they are not going anywhere. Here in Rwanda they do not have resources, they should be much poorer. The Rwandans have one thing they don’t: good government”. I exit the bus, collect my things and begin walking toward the country without good government.

***