Prioritization and rapid market appraisal for tree products in Rwanda. Technical report for Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and ICRAF

Agriculture is the largest employer and contributes to more than half of export earnings of most African countries (Adekunle et al ., 2012). In Rwanda for instance, agriculture contributes to 36% of the GDP and about 70% of the country’s export revenue (MINECOFIN, 2008 ). This notwithstanding, f ood security and land degradation have been of major concerns as a consequence of high population pressures , resulting in the need to intensify agricultural production and also to incorporate environmental sustainability interventions in Rwandan agriculture (Ndiaye and Sofranko, 1994) . Agroforestry has been widely promoted as sustainability - enhancing practice combining the benefits of both forestry and agriculture. It is a form of sustainable land use that combines trees and shrubs with crops and/ or livestock in ways that increase and diversify farm and for est production while also conserving natural resources (Molua, 2005). Agroforestry development has taken place in sub - Saharan African as a response to the major problems, including food shortage in many parts of the developing world, the increasing ecolo gical degradation and the energy crisis at the beginning of the 1970s (King , 198 7 ). It is viewed as most desirable strategy for maintaining social, economic and ecological sustainability in Rwanda ( REMA, 2010). The flexibility of agroforestry ap proach is one of its advantages since such a technology may require adjustment for particular situations. Despite major agroforestry development and achievements in the last two decades, it is important to notice that most of agroforestry species promoted by researc h ers are not necessarily the ones widely adopted by smallholder farmers in sub - Saharan Africa (Bucagu et al., 2013 ) . Li ke consumers everywhere, farmers are critical of what is offered to them and choose only those technologies that appear most useful and/o r profitable for their specific conditions . For instance, in Rwanda, the uptake of different agroforestry technologies varies across farms and each species is managed as a unique technology. T h e farmers design individual systems that will increase their economic stability and improve the management of nat ural resources under their care (Beetz, 1999 ). The presence of income generation as a primary production objective therefore, highlights the importance of correctly understanding the markets for the produ cts of agroforestry.This calls for a need to use innovative approaches to identify the potential niches for agroforestry species and to study how agroforestry product markets are structured and function in Rwanda . Such assessments are important, in providi ng inform ation to policy makers, development practitioners and smallholder agroforestry farmers on the tree species with high market potential and also the key constraint and opportunities involved in the value chain of those species before they decide to invest in them

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