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The dairy sector in Rwanda plays a key role in improving nutrition and generating income mostly for rural households. Despite the Rwandan 1994 genocide that left around 80% of dairy cows decimated, the dairy sector has experienced significant growth in the past two decades through government, development organisations, and donor programs, and through the nascent vibrant public–private partnership. In this paper, we reviewed and documented the evolution of the dairy policies, programs, and regulations in Rwanda and how they have contributed to the development of the dairy sector. The policy change has impacted the provision and use of inputs and services that have shaped the sector's milk production and productivity, milk quality, and demand. The results suggest that various policy- and program-level interventions have positively contributed to the growth of the dairy sector and improved the livelihoods of low-income households. This has been achieved through increased access to inputs and services, enhanced capacities of the public and private sector to deliver services, strengthened dairy cooperatives' governance, and increased value proposition to members of various farmer groups and promotion of milk consumption. We find that some of the implemented policies and programs, such as the “Girinka” (one cow per poor family) program, Rwanda Dairy Competitiveness Program II, and Rwanda Dairy Development Project, have resulted in improved farmer access to improved cow breeds and improved milk quality and cow productivity through enhanced health inputs and other services. While the dairy policies, programs, and regulations in Rwanda have paved the way for the development of the dairy sector and contributed to the provision and use of inputs and services, there are still challenges that need to be addressed. Accessibility and use of veterinary and artificial insemination services are limited by the quality of veterinary products, while the inadequate quality of feeds leads to low productivity of improved cow breeds. Consequently, farmers' uptake and use of inputs and services can be enhanced through a strengthened capacity of milk collection centres and health and animal feed policies that guide and control the quality of veterinary products and feeds sold in the markets.

Background Integrated vegetable–poultry production system has recently attracted attention both from the scientific and policy making communities for its potential contribution to food security as well as the opportunities it offers in improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Tanzania. Despite the efforts made, its benefits and costs in heterogeneous and real-world settings are not fully understood. Despite the promising design of the vegetable–poultry production system, rather little is known of its profitability and its contribution to better living conditions of rural households in different real-world settings. The same applies regarding the knowledge on factors influencing the decision to adopt such an integrated system. Methods Using cross-sectional data collected from 250 households in Babati district of Tanzania, we employ a gross margin analysis and a logit model to evaluate the profitability and to investigate the factors influencing the decision to integrate vegetable and poultry production systems. Results We find that the integrated vegetable–poultry production system is more profitable than vegetable farming alone and the profitability increases as the poultry flock size increases. An integrating household should keep 18 birds to get significant higher profit than non-integrator. Furthermore, gender and education level of the household head, awareness of integration benefits, land owned, household size, off-farm income, and total income received by the household influence the decision to integrate vegetable and poultry. Conclusion The study strongly promotes the integration of vegetable–poultry production system and highlights the influence of gender and awareness of integration benefits on the decision to integrate vegetable and poultry. Hence, the policy implication is to empower women and provide capacity building through training and extension services such as provision of affordable and improved vegetable seeds and poultry breeds.

The production of bioenergy from plant sources has been an emerging issue in the global bioeconomy. This is as a result of the depletion of fossil fuel sources and its high adverse effects on the environment as the main source of conventional energy. Biobased products from fruit trees and crops have been thought and proven to play an important role in supplying future bioenergy and contributing to the achievement of some sustainable development goals. Many studies have focused on this novel technology without focusing on the economic aspect of it. In a bid to build and improve on literature, this study sought to economically evaluate the production of bioenergy from biomass using robust and standard profitability measures like the net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and the payback period (PBP). Data was obtained through expert interviews from the Klein-Altendorf project site in Bonn, Germany. A business as usual scenario and a carbon avoidance scenario were investigated to ascertain the economic viability of this sustainable activity. Results in the business as usual scenario showed the process as a non-profitable venture. However, based on the carbon avoidance scenario, we argued that the project is economically viable especially in terms of carbon avoidance which reduces emissions and goes a long way to protect the environment. These social benefits obtained make the investment worthy. The greatest constraint and cost come from establishing such initiatives. The study found initial investment costs to be very high. Moreover, bioenergy produced is valued at the same price like energy produced from fossil fuels despite its numerous benefits to the environment. The results recommend to policy the maintenance of such initiatives as they have a big role to play in the global bioeconomy. In addition, other countries should join Germany in supporting this initiative by subsidising producers of bioenergy. This is justifiable and arguably the reason for Germany’s global recognition in bioeconomic issues.

A major concern of the Rwandan government and other dairy stakeholders is the safety and quality of milk that goes through informal delivery systems until it gets to the consumers. Although the government introduced the dairy best practices scheme that stipulates standards and practices for proper handling of raw milk, consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for such milk has not yet been assessed. It is also unclear whether consumers are aware of and/or value the safety‐ and quality‐related information on types of milk sold in different marketing channels. In this study, we use the second price auction mechanism to elicit consumers' WTP for pasteurized but unpackaged milk in Rwanda and we estimate the effect of providing safety‐ and quality‐related information on WTP using the random‐effect Tobit model. Our results show that consumers are willing to pay a price premium for safe and quality milk, implying that there is an opportunity for market transformation in the dairy sector. Furthermore, we find a positive and significant effect of providing information to consumers on WTP for safe and quality milk. Based on our results, we recommend policies that promote private sector investments in upscaling of milk zones and the establishment of milk‐dispensing machines selling this type of milk. There is also a need for information campaigns that increase consumers' knowledge and awareness of the quality of milk consumed. [EconLit Citations: C34, C91, D12, D44, M31].

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