Agriculture is the largest sector in the Rwandan economy, with 75% of the adult population generating their livelihoods from the sector. Its contribution to GDP and export earnings is substantial, accounting for 26% of Rwanda’s GDP value added in 2020.
As part of the Rwanda Economy Digitalisation Programme, we conducted an in-depth of the the agriculture sector by examining the sector’s digitalisation policy objectives in and their practical implementation. The sector faces challenges such as limited arable land, weather-related risks, and inadequate access to finance and technology for smallholder farmers.

Key findings in the digitalisation of farmers:

• Financial inclusion varies among farmers, with subsistence farmers having a moderate level and commercial farmers experiencing a high level of financial inclusion.
• The majority of formally financially included farmers have a mobile money account.
• Roughly 6-7% of farmers owning mobile phones do not have mobile money.
• More than 90% of financial transaction use cases remain non-digitalised. Remittances, water and electricity payments, leisure expenses, and educational payments stand out as the most extensively digitised aspects of financial transactions.

If you are interested in working with us on payments digitalisation or evidence-based decision making you can contact Arlette Rwakazina.