Farmlands are extremely fragmented in Rwanda, with an average farm size of only 0.76 hectares (Republic of Rwanda, 2010), and provisions against the fragmentation of land tenure encroach on the principle of equal inheritance rights for children (IFAD, 2010). By law, plots not exceeding an area of 1 hectare - some 80 per cent of farms - cannot be further partitioned. Where this prevents a plot from being partitioned among children, it is held on behalf of the family in communal/familial possession by a single heir - commonly the oldest male child (UNCTAD, 2014).