Kenya, East Africa’s leading horticulture industry has reportedly been affected by the spills of the global financial crisis, with less of her products being flown to European markets. In an effort to assess the extent of the impact in Rwanda, Eddie Mukaaya met with Peter Muvara, the Chairman of Horticulture Development Taskforce. Below are the excerpt

How are horticulture exports fairing amidst the current global financial crisis?

The industry is doing well and we have not had drops in profits so far in terms of export revenues. Instead, there has been a boost in our exports this due to the food crisis.

Please explain how?
There was an increase in demand of foodstuffs especially fresh fruits like passion fruits.

Should we say that the industry is not affected at all?
The effect is likely to be on the profit margin but as of now, we haven’t had any facts on how the global financial crisis has affected or is affecting our industry. The price may be falling but not at the extent of making losses.

And it is not us (development authority) obliged to assess it but traders are the ones supposed to assess and report the impact. Besides Rwanda is a bit far from the market so it is not likely to have a direct impact unlike in Kenya.

How many exporters do you have in the industry?
There are not so many but five serious exporters such as Rwanda Flora exporting flowers, Floris- sweet bananas, Shekina and Sorwatom exporting vegetables. There are also seasonal exporters.

There were reports that the industry registered a 61 percent fall in export revenues. What could be the cause?
 The reports are not reliable because our evaluations in the first two quarters indicated a steady progress. I wouldn’t speculate but we are gathering data about our exports from Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA). There is a problem of defining what horticulture industry comprises of.

Some products exclude ready to drink juices while others consider it to have only flowers. This affects recordings of export revenues from the industry.

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