The Direction des Statistiques Agricoles (DSA) had conducted a series of nationwide
agricultural surveys and special studies on a continuous basis from 1982 up to the beginning
of the 1994 civil war. One of the main objectives of this survey program was to produce
national and subnational estimates of agricultural area and production. Prior to the 1994 civil
war, the Agricultural Surveys and Policy Analysis Project (ASPAP) had assisted with the
design and implementation of the national agricultural survey program. In 1992 a new
sample design for the National Agricultural Survey was introduced based on the updated
sampling frame from the 1991 Rwanda Census of Population and Housing (Recensement
General de la Population et de l’Habitat). More than 1 year of agricultural data from the new
sample had been collected and partially processed before the war, but much of this
information was lost during the conflict.