The positive impacts of farm land fragmentation in Rwanda

Land fragmentation and land consolidation are two interrelated concepts of land management. The dominant discourse is that fragmented land ownership and land use tend to be ineffective and unwanted, and land consolidation is then a solution to this quandary. Not surprisingly, in countries such as Rwanda, the majority of the governmental strategies highlight the negative effects of fragmentation. However, the effects of land fragmentation have been dual. Its positive side has often been overlooked by policy makers and the research community. Therefore, this study investigates to which degree one can benefit from farmland fragmentation, especially in the context of food security at the household level and of climate change vulnerability. The goal of this article is to expand the current land fragmentation discourse and describe in which context specific types of land fragmentation may be just as sustainable as opting for land consolidation. The guiding hypothesis hereby is that there is a high level of fragmented land ownership yet, that physical (location, use, internal, shape and value) fragmentation acts as a risk management strategy which positively impacts the nutritional balance for food quality and food sustainability as components of food security.