Expansion of Rural Settlement on High Quality Arable Land in Northern Province a Case Study of Musanze District

Settlement increase triggered by escalating urbanization is a critical element to the diminishing arable land globally. In Rwanda more people are concentrating in urban areas while rural population shrinks exponentially due to various factors, but unfortunately arable land continues decreasing. Rural and urban settlement especially in northern Rwanda expands into arable land, which in turn diminish high quality farmland, hence threatens food security in long-term view. However, the researches about this reduction is still insufficient. A comprehensive investigation is necessary into this important matter, which is the growing problem of agricultural land scarcity and the expansion of rural and urban communities in the Northern Province especially Kinigi sector of Musanze district. With a focus on Kinigi Sector, this research offers a detailed analysis of the complex processes at work from 2002 and 2012 and from 2012 to 2022. The results indicated that from 2002 to 2012 rural settlement has increased to 48.23% while between 2012 and 2022 increased to 98.14%, overall, this marks an increase of 49.86% from 2002 to 2022. Rural villages were largely built on high quality arable land at the beginning of the research period. thereafter, medium- and low-quality farmland was also inhabited, but to a lower degree due to the rigidity of the district. Keywords: Expansion, rural and urban settlement, diminishing, agricultural land.