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).