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Geodata for Agriculture and

Water in Rwanda

By Antoine

Twagirumukiza21/05/2014

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Table of content

Background on data for agriculture and water facility in Rwanda

Main challenges for agricultural development

Government’s efforts and policy on food security

Status and problems of spatial information supply

information suppliers active in the agriculture domain

Agri-sector information supply and current mechanisms

Potential for sustainable spatially based information services (micro-insurance)

• Rwanda is located in the Great Lakes Region,

• Country area is 26,338 km2,

• Its topography rises from East at 1,250 m to the North/West

at 3,000 m averaged altitudes,

• Temperature and precipitation vary between 16°C/1600 mm

in the high altitude, 19°C/1300 mm in the central plateau and

22°C/1000 mm in the lowlands of the East and West Rwanda,

• That nature of topography influences the micro-climate which

gives advantage for agriculture production (coffee and tea),

• Agriculture sector occupies the first place in the national

economy employing more than 87% of the working

population and producing around 46% of GDP,

• However, climate change is one of main challenges for the

agricultural development in Rwanda.3

Background

Human and climate

Human activities have severe impacts on our atmosphere by causing greenhouse gas

accumulation

Consequences: progressive increase in air temperature, change in precipitation, food

insecurity

1 n

4

5

6.2

7.2

7.5

8.2

9.2

8.48.6

9.2

9.5

9.8

11.0

P = 3E-24e0.0349x

R² = 0.9608

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1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012

Po

pu

lati

on

in

Mill

ion

s

Years

Rwanda Population (sources: Minirena, 2010, Forest policy)

Is this situation assessable? YES

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4

5

5

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6

7

7

8

800

900

1,000

1,100

1,200

1,300

1,400

1,500

1,600

1,700

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Mil

lio

ns

ton

s

Th

ou

san

ds

ha

Crop production: cereals, pulse, banana, roots & tubers(source:Minecofin, 2004, Rwanda Development Indicators)

Cultivated land area (ha) Production (tons)

Key messages

• Demand for food will increase;

• Water could not be easily accessible;

• Food producers and other stakeholders need

relevant information to increase food production;

• Access to satellite imagery and data could much

support agriculture as well as other domains in

providing latest data and trends

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Key stakeholder involvement in G4AW

Ministries & Agencies,

Agriculture,

Water sector,

Industry & Financials,

Duch Gov. & programs,

Information providers,

Others

Main challenges for agricultural development

Acidity of soil

Population density and livelihood

Low use of inputs and commercialization

Climate change,

Insufficient post harvest management,

Limited access to financial services,

Inadequate Water and Irrigation development,

Insufficient infrastructure for animal production processing and storageInsufficient infrastructure for animal production processing and storage 10

Government’s efforts and policy on food security

• Good governance and political will to develop agricultural sector;

• National Agricultural Policy, approaches and programs;

• Network of micro finance institutions present in all Districts;

• Agricultural education institutions (UNR, ISAE, KIST, UNATEC… );

• Increase of small agro processing units;

• Communication facilities (local radios, newspapers, ICT);

• Participation of local communities to take part in decision-making;

• in the context of decentralization and good governance;

• existence of a good policy for cooperatives promotion and political stability in the country;

• Performance management initiative to improve delivery of public services

• Rwanda experienced different agricultural extension approaches (Farmer to Farmer, Partnership, Agricultural Knowledge Information System, etc.);

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Status and problems of spatial information supply

Government officials trained in

spatial informati

on managem

ent;

Appropriate basic

equipment and

facilities have been

put in place like

GPS, DGPS,

ArcGIS, etc;

Important geodata

have been collected and are

available for

helping in decision making;

Rwanda has

produced a country cover high resolution

aerial photography (25cm)

but;

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Spatial information challenges

Gap in using remote sensing

data due to non-clear access to satellite data

system;

Most of data are scattered in the ministries and institutions;

Absence of national policy on data access and sharing;

Absence of National Spatial

Data Infrastructure

(NSDI) and

skills gap among staff to be able

to build a reliable and

responsive GIS based dynamic

information framework (GIS-

DIF);

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Information suppliers active in the agriculture domain

• Rwanda Agricultural Board (RAB),

• National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB),

• Marshland and hillside irrigation projects (LWH/RSSP),

• Kirehe Watershed Management Project (KWAMP),

Collaborate with:

• Centre for Geographic Information System of University of Rwanda (CGIS),

• Rwanda Natural Resources Authority (RNRA),

• Rwanda Meteorological Agency,

• National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) and

• Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC).

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General information in the agriculture domain is mainly supplied by

the Ministry of Agriculture and affiliate organizations:

Agri-sector information supply and current

mechanismsMain spatial data producers :

• National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR),

• National Land Centre (NLC),

• CGIS (Centre for GIS),

• Other organizations combined supply.

Mechanism:

• Spatial datasets are stored as digital and/or paper maps;

• Those datasets are especially:

administrative boundaries, topographic maps, Roads, Socio-demographic data, land use, soil map, irrigated consolidated lands, Bathymetry of Lake and orthophotos;

• They are mostly exchanged in map format printouts/hardcopies,

• shapefiles (.shp),

• (.pdf) format and,

• downloadable from the internet

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For the sustainability of geospatial services in Rwanda:

• A master’s programme for Geo-Information science has been opened in the University of Rwanda;

• The land and mapping department has been created in RNRA with the mandate to develop policy on spatial data, Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), data sharing and develop geospatial services.

• The domain of micro insurance is new in Rwanda and needs to be scaled up.

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Potential for sustainable spatially based information

services

Conclusion

Spatial based (satellite) information can improve food security in Rwanda

Eg:

•Agro-insurance services

•agricultural yield forecast

•agriculture production mapping,

•Flood forecasting

•etc

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Thank you…

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