{"id":119289,"date":"2026-02-07T16:58:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T16:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda"},"modified":"2026-02-07T17:31:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T17:31:13","slug":"new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda","title":{"rendered":"New Law to Professionalize Farming Sector in Rwanda"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>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\u2019s agricultural sector.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2014high-potential agricultural production zones that consolidate farm plots, typically covering at least five hectares, to boost output and enhance food security.<\/p>\n

Jean-Paul Munyakazi, a farmer and legal representative of Imbaraga Farmers\u2019 Organisation, said the bill addresses long-standing gaps in the agricultural legal framework, particularly the lack of enforceable standards and accountability.<\/p>\n

Munyakazi, who grows maize on eight hectares, cultivates bananas and rears pigs in Nyanza District in Southern Province, said that farmers\u2019 organisations previously submitted proposals to the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources and to Parliament calling for legislation to better regulate farming.<\/p>\n

Professionalising farming<\/p>\n

His organisation had long urged the government to formally recognise and categorise farmers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the biggest challenges is that farmers are not clearly identified. Anyone without a job is considered a farmer, which makes planning difficult,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u2018Help government enforce standards\u2019<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past, guidelines were issued, but there was no legal basis to enforce them. This bill seeks to address that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach district has its own specific characteristics, and certain crops are better suited to some areas than others,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His group proposed that a person be considered as an active farmer if they cultivate at least half a hectare of land.<\/p>\n

Munyakazi explained that, given Rwanda\u2019s population and the large number of people engaged in agriculture, the average landholding per person is close to a quarter of a hectare.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

According to the Fifth Rwanda Population and Housing Census 2022\u2014the most recent census conducted by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda\u2014about 2.1 million private households in Rwanda practice crop farming.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. 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\u2019s agricultural sector. The draft law, approved by Cabinet on January 28 and expected to be tabled before Parliament, also introduces enforceable standards […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":119288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15],"tags":[321,758],"class_list":["post-119289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-agriculture","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Law to Professionalize Farming Sector in Rwanda - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A proposed plant production bill seeks to formally classify farmers into small-, medium- and large-scale categories, a m ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Law to Professionalize Farming Sector in Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A proposed plant production bill seeks to formally classify farmers into small-, medium- and large-scale categories, a m ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-07T16:58:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-07T17:31:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1770472680.749604.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"New Law to Professionalize Farming Sector in Rwanda\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-07T16:58:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-07T17:31:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda\"},\"wordCount\":631,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1770472680.749604.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"agriculture\",\"Rwanda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda\",\"name\":\"New Law to Professionalize Farming Sector in Rwanda - Rwanda\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1770472680.749604.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-07T16:58:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-07T17:31:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"A proposed plant production bill seeks to formally classify farmers into small-, medium- and large-scale categories, a m ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1770472680.749604.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1770472680.749604.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":750,\"caption\":\"New Law to Professionalize Farming Sector in Rwanda\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New Law to Professionalize Farming Sector in Rwanda\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/\",\"name\":\"Rwanda\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Law to Professionalize Farming Sector in Rwanda - Rwanda","description":"A proposed plant production bill seeks to formally classify farmers into small-, medium- and large-scale categories, a m ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Law to Professionalize Farming Sector in Rwanda","og_description":"A proposed plant production bill seeks to formally classify farmers into small-, medium- and large-scale categories, a m ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda","og_site_name":"Rwanda","article_published_time":"2026-02-07T16:58:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-07T17:31:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":750,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1770472680.749604.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"New Law to Professionalize Farming Sector in Rwanda","datePublished":"2026-02-07T16:58:36+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-07T17:31:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda"},"wordCount":631,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1770472680.749604.jpg","keywords":["agriculture","Rwanda"],"articleSection":["all news","Economy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda","name":"New Law to Professionalize Farming Sector in Rwanda - Rwanda","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1770472680.749604.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-07T16:58:36+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-07T17:31:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"A proposed plant production bill seeks to formally classify farmers into small-, medium- and large-scale categories, a m ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1770472680.749604.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1770472680.749604.jpg","width":1000,"height":750,"caption":"New Law to Professionalize Farming Sector in Rwanda"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/new-law-to-professionalize-farming-sector-in-rwanda#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Law to Professionalize Farming Sector in Rwanda"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/","name":"Rwanda","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}