Smallholder farmers continues to play a key role in African agriculture, especially in East Africa where it is known as agriculture-based economies, where they accounts for about 75 % of agriculture production and the employment. Maize production in Rwanda is grown under rain fed conditions; however, the production is threatened by series of constraints that hinder not only the livelihood of the farming population but also the meeting of the government objective for agriculture sector transformation. This study examined the constraints and opportunities for promoting smallholder maize farmers in three agro-ecological zones of Rwanda. Different methods were used in data collection, namely literature review, household questionnaire survey, participatory field observations, focus group discussions (FGD) and key informant interview. Findings from the study show that the intensive land use and land shortage compel farmers not to fallow their land. It was revealed that 71.3%, 68.3% and 40.4% of respondents from Baberuka highland, Eastern savanna and central plateau agro-ecological zones respectively reported the problem of low soil fertility. Results also revealed that smallholder maize farmers in all agro-ecological zones have problems of high cost of inputs especially fertilizers. Despite these constraints, the findings show that increasing of population growth has raised the demand for agricultural products which have in return increased the opportunities of the expansion of the smallholder agriculture and the market as well.

Keywords: Soil fertility, maize, agro-ecological zones, land use.