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With research staff from more than 70 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

Kinya Kaibung’a

Kinya Kaibung’a is a Research Officer with the Development Strategies and Governance Unit, based in Nairobi, Kenya. She has a keen interest in leveraging machine learning, AI, and other cutting-edge technologies to boost climate resilience and food security in smart agriculture systems.

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Since 1975, IFPRI’s research has been informing policies and development programs to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods around the world.

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The Earth Planet

Rwanda

countries and regions

Publications

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Brief

Monitoring the impact of recent price volatility on food group consumption in Rwanda

2026Manners, Rhys; Warner, James
Details

Monitoring the impact of recent price volatility on food group consumption in Rwanda

This research uses high-frequency food price data from more than 60 Rwandan markets integrated with bi-weekly dietary consumption data collected during two periods in 2021/22 and 2023/24. During these periods considerable price fluctuations were observed, providing a unique opportunity to track consumption responses to large price instability created by global shocks.

Year published

2026

Authors

Manners, Rhys; Warner, James

Citation

Manners, Rhys; and Warner, James. 2026. Monitoring the impact of recent price volatility on food group consumption in Rwanda. Rwanda SSP Policy Note 21. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178417

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Monitoring; Impact; Price Volatility; Food Consumption; Food Prices

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

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Journal Article

Cost and affordability of recommended diets in Rwanda using [near] real-time market data

2026Manners, Rhys; Lecy, Kate Schneider; Warner, James; Matsiko, Eric; Vasanthakaalam, Hilda; Benimana, Gilberthe Uwera; Spielman, David J.
Details

Cost and affordability of recommended diets in Rwanda using [near] real-time market data

Countries are increasingly benchmarking food assistance and labour laws on the cost of nationally recommended diets. Benchmarking is made against national annual estimates, which fail to account for sub-national and intra-annual variation in cost, blunting the impact of policies. Using monthly market price data collected by the Government of Rwanda (April 2019-March 2024), we estimate the cost of the country’s proposed food-based dietary guidelines, using a standardised diet costing methodology. We found rural areas experienced greater inflation in diet cost over the study period than urban areas (41% vs 28%), yet the recommended diet was 12.7% higher in urban locations. Diet costs were approximately 6% lower in districts with international border crossings to Tanzania, but 7% more in those with borders with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Fruits and vegetables (110% and 71%) and starchy staples (86% and 83%) contributed most to cost increases in rural and urban locations respectively. Seasonal diet cost fluctuations were also evident with a seasonal amplitude of 5.6% and 6.9% in rural and urban locations, synchronised to Rwanda’s agricultural calendar. 70% of employed Rwandans would find the recommended diet unaffordable, if spending 52% of wages on food. Diet costs varied 4.2-fold across all districts throughout the study period, meaning that uniform national policies to address costs and affordability would be systematically inadequate in high-cost settings and wasteful in low-cost ones. That such spatial–temporal variation exists in a small, relatively market integrated country like Rwanda suggests variation would be at least equally consequential in other low and lower-middle-income countries. High-frequency and sub-national monitoring of prices, diet costs, and affordability provides essential intelligence for policymakers to enable spatially and seasonally targeted interventions, improving both the adequacy and efficiency of food policy.

Year published

2026

Authors

Manners, Rhys; Lecy, Kate Schneider; Warner, James; Matsiko, Eric; Vasanthakaalam, Hilda; Benimana, Gilberthe Uwera; Spielman, David J.

Citation

Manners, Rhys; Lecy, Kate Schneider; Warner, James; Matsiko, Eric; Vasanthakaalam, Hilda; et al. 2026. Cost and affordability of recommended diets in Rwanda using [near] real-time market data. Food Policy 141(June 2026): 103085. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2026.103085

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Costs; Food Prices; Food Affordability; Recommended Dietary Allowances; Markets; Frequency Distribution

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2026.103085 Source record

Project

Digital Innovation

Record type

Journal Article

Resource thumbnail

Working Paper

Gender, youth, and growth: Unpacking the productivity–transformation nexus in Rwanda

2026Aragie, Emerta A.; Escalante, Luis Enrique; Thurlow, James; Warner, James; Niyonsingiza, Josue
Details

Gender, youth, and growth: Unpacking the productivity–transformation nexus in Rwanda

The relationship between labor productivity and economic transformation, and their combined impact on labor market dynamics, remains insufficiently understood and highly country specific. This study applies an economywide analytical framework, using Rwanda as a case study, to examine how youth and women’s productivity influence economic growth and structural transformation, and how this transformation process, in turn, affects these groups. The results indicate that labor productivity gains—whether economywide or concentrated among youth—shift growth toward the industrial and service sectors, while growth in the agricultural sector is minimal. Increases in productivity of women’ labor generate more balanced growth across sectors and substantially enhance women’s industrial participation. Productivity gains of youth labor induce stronger structural shifts, as young workers move from agriculture to expanding industrial and service sectors, though this transition partially displaces adult workers. In general, labor income in these simulations rises broadly in line with GDP, with youth and women benefiting most under targeted scenarios. Sector-specific growth strategies yield distinct distributional effects, however: industry-led growth benefits women and adults, while service-led growth favors the versatile youth. Overall, productivity-driven structural transformation in Rwanda fosters welfare gains, although potential trade-offs between inclusiveness across gender and age groups and aggregate economic performance warrant further investigation. In conclusion, policy design in Rwanda should ensure that gains in aggregate economic growth are balanced with inclusive outcomes for women, youth, and adults.

Year published

2026

Authors

Aragie, Emerta A.; Escalante, Luis Enrique; Thurlow, James; Warner, James; Niyonsingiza, Josue

Citation

Aragie, Emerta; Escalante, Luis; Thurlow, James; Warner, James; and Niyonsingiza, Josue. 2026. Gender, youth, and growth: Productivity–Transformation Nexus in Rwanda. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2415. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/182847

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Labour; Labour Productivity; Gender; Youth; Economic Growth; Transformation

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

Datasets

Dataset

2018 Social Accounting Matrix for Rwanda

2025International Food Policy Research Institute
Details

2018 Social Accounting Matrix for Rwanda

The Nexus Project is a collaboration between IFPRI and its partners, including national statistical agencies and research institutions. Our aim is to improve the quality of social accounting matrices (SAMs) used for computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling. The Nexus Project develops toolkits and establishes common data standards, procedures, and classification systems for constructing and updating national SAMs. The 2018 Rwanda SAM follows the Standard Nexus Structure. The open access version of the Rwanda SAM separates domestic production into 42 activities. Factors are disaggregated into labor, agricultural land, and capital. Labor is further disaggregated across three education categories. Representative households are disaggregated by rural and urban areas and by per capita expenditure quintile. The remaining accounts include enterprises, government, taxes, savings-and-investment, and the rest of the word.

Year published

2025

Authors

International Food Policy Research Institute

Citation

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). 2025. 2018 Social Accounting Matrix for Rwanda. Washington, DC: IFPRI [dataset]. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/VO8EYG. Harvard Dataverse. Version 1.

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Sub-saharan Africa; Africa; Social Accounting Matrix; National Accounting; Household Consumption; Household Expenditure; Economic Indicators; Labour; Sex-disaggregated Data

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.7910/dvn/vo8eyg Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Dataset

Dataset

Replication Data for “Fertilizer Policy Reforms in the Midst of Crisis: Evidence from Rwanda”

2025International Food Policy Research Institute
Details

Replication Data for “Fertilizer Policy Reforms in the Midst of Crisis: Evidence from Rwanda”

This dataset is provided to support the replication of the results presented in the paper “The Impact of Fertilizer Subsidies on Agricultural Productivity in Rwanda” (Spielman, David J.; Mugabo, Serge; Rosenbach, Gracie et al., forthcoming). It includes both the raw data and the processed variables used in the analysis. The data for this study is sourced from the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda’s (NISR) Seasonal Agriculture Survey (SAS), conducted between 2017 and 2020. The dataset includes a representative sample of small-scale and large-scale farms across Rwanda. It contains detailed information on land use, crop production, fertilizer usage, crop yields, and agricultural practices across the country’s three agricultural seasons: Season A (September to February), Season B (March to June), and Season C (July to September). The SAS dataset includes data from 76,182 sampled plots across Rwanda, capturing key agricultural variables such as fertilizer application, crop types, land sizes, and yields. This dataset is further enriched with additional data from the National Agriculture Export Board (NAEB), which provides information on tea and coffee production through routine monitoring and a five-year coffee census. Input subsidies, pricing, and distribution data are sourced from the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) and the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Board (RAB). Accompanying this dataset are the do-files, which contain the Stata code necessary to replicate the analysis presented in the paper. These scripts include all steps for data cleaning, analysis, and result generation. Detailed, step-by-step instructions for replicating the analysis can be found in the included README file. While the dataset is based on the original SAS data, it has been cleaned and transformed for analysis. Missing values have been handled using mean imputation for continuous variables and mode imputation for categorical variables. Outliers in crop yield data have also been adjusted based on established thresholds.

Year published

2025

Authors

International Food Policy Research Institute

Citation

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). 2025. Replication Data for “Fertilizer Policy Reforms in the Midst of Crisis: Evidence from Rwanda”. Washington, DC: IFPRI [dataset]. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/SMGIBM. Harvard Dataverse. Version 1.

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Eastern Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Africa; Crop Yield; Policy Analysis; Agricultural Practices; Climate Change Adaptation; Sustainable Agriculture; Agricultural Productivity; Npk Fertilizers; Subsidies; Farm Inputs

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.7910/dvn/smgibm Source record

Record type

Dataset

Dataset

2022 Social Accounting Matrix for Rwanda

2024International Food Policy Research Institute
Details

2022 Social Accounting Matrix for Rwanda

The 2022 Rwanda Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) follows IFPRI’s Standard Nexus SAM approach, by focusing on consistency, comparability, and transparency of data. The Nexus SAMs available on IFPRI’s website separates domestic production into 42 activities. Factors are disaggregated into labor, agricultural land, and capital, with labor further disaggregated across three education-based categories. The household account is divided into 10 representative household groups: Rural and urban households across per capita consumption quintiles. Nexus SAMs support the improvement of model-based research and policy analysis in developing countries and allow for more robust cross-country comparisons of national economic structures, especially agriculture-food systems.

Year published

2024

Authors

International Food Policy Research Institute

Citation

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). 2024. 2022 Social Accounting Matrix for Rwanda. Washington, DC: IFPRI [dataset]. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/JRLHAT. Harvard Dataverse. Version 1.

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Social Accounting Matrix; Household Consumption; Household Expenditure; Taxes; Economic Indicators; Labour; Computable General Equilibrium Models; Agrifood Systems

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.7910/dvn/jrlhat Source record

Project

Foresight

Record type

Dataset

Blogs

Beyond the harvest: Uncovering the hidden risks driving poverty and hunger in developing economies
Research Post
 | 
April 24, 2026

Beyond the harvest: Uncovering the hidden risks driving poverty and hunger in developing economies

By Askar Mukashov and Eleanor Jones

Systematic risk profiling reveals wide differences in country vulnerabilities.

Shaping strategies for Rwanda’s agricultural transformation
Issue Post
 | 
June 30, 2025

Shaping strategies for Rwanda’s agricultural transformation

By Maria DiGiovanni, James Warner, and Serge Mugabo

Rwanda’s agricultural transformation, guided by its Strategic Plan for Agriculture Transformation (PSTA), showcases how evidence-based strategies—supported by IFPRI—can drive inclusive, sustainable growth by aligning economic, social, and environmental goals through coordinated action and investment.

Borlaug Dialogue side event: Reducing food loss and waste to address climate change in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia
Event Post
 | 
December 26, 2024

Borlaug Dialogue side event: Reducing food loss and waste to address climate change in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia

By Nandita Srivastava

Managing value chains to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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Events

African Food Systems Forum (AFSF) 2026
IFPRI at External Event

 | 

August 31 to September 4, 2026

African Food Systems Forum (AFSF) 2026

The Africa Food Systems Forum (AFSF) will host its 20th Annual Summit in Kigali, Rwanda from 31 August to 4 September 2026, under the theme “Investing in Africa’s Agri-Food Systems: Nourishing Nations, Growing Jobs, Building Resilience.” The Summit will bring together stakeholders from across the agri-food sector for a programme of plenary sessions, technical discussions, […]

The Future of Youth Jobs in Agrifood Systems in Africa
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

July 15, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 am

The Future of Youth Jobs in Agrifood Systems in Africa

Africa’s population is the youngest of any region, affording the continent an adequate workforce to drive economic and social transformation. However, African economies are finding it difficult to create employment opportunities for this “youth bulge”—opportunities that are needed to advance on SDG target 8.6 to substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education […]

Africa Food Systems Forum 2024 Summit
IFPRI at External Event

 | 

September 2 to 6, 2024

Africa Food Systems Forum 2024 Summit

The Africa Food Systems Forum 2024 annual summit will be a timely opportunity to convene diverse stakeholders, including world leaders, investors, academia, farmers’ organizations, and the private sector, to spotlight innovations, technologies, best practices, business models, policy delivery mechanisms, and investments to accelerate food systems transformation in Africa and beyond, with youth and women at […]

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News

February 09, 2026 | Press Release

New IFPRI study introduces breakthrough framework to assess economic risks in developing countries

A groundbreaking approach to understanding how developing economies are affected by multiple, simultaneous shocks.

February 01, 2023 | In the News

How to transform African agriculture (Project Syndicate) 

In a report on trends for African agriculture, Project Syndicate wrote that with soaring food prices, climate change, and rapid population growth undermining food security in Africa, the continent is in dire need of an agricultural revolution. While the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have exacerbated global food insecurity, throwing millions into extreme poverty […]

November 24, 2021 | In the News

Rwanda: $ 33 million from BRD and EIB to support companies hit by Covid-19 (Agency Cofin)

Agency Cofin published an article stating that Rwanda is preparing, with the help of its partners, for post-covid economic recovery. As such, a number of sources of financing have been implemented in order to facilitate the recovery of the various key sectors of the economy. According to IFPRI, the lockdown has increased the poverty rate by 10.9 percentage […]

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Projects

RIAPA-AI

RIAPA-AI

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Economywide Risk Assessments

Economywide Risk Assessments

Developed using advanced machine learning, simulation, and data mining techniques, these country briefs provide detailed risk assessments of key economic indicators. Produced by IFPRI, the……

Spatial Typologies for Targeted Food and Nutrition Security Interventions

Spatial Typologies for Targeted Food and Nutrition Security Interventions

…

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