The National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB) and partners, on March 1 launched a $62.89 million project to boost smallholder farmer's agriculture exports.

The Promoting Smallholder Agro-Export Competitiveness Project (PSAC) will address key challenges faced by smallholder farmers involved in developing agriculture export value chains of coffee, tea, horticulture in Rwanda and enhance the competitiveness of their outputs on target markets.

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Financed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and other partners such as Cordaid, the government of Spain, and Heifer International, among others, the project is expected to benefit 56,695 households with approximately 255,128 household members.

"The project promotes gender-transformational changes. At least 40 per cent of the beneficiaries will be women and 20 per cent are female-headed households. At least 30 per cent will be youth targeted by fostering access to wage employment and creating space for youth leadership development in the targeted value chains,” Eric Kabayiza, the single project implementation unit coordinator at NAEB, said.

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It will be implemented in 14 districts: Nyamasheke, Rutsiro, Karongi, Nyabihu and Rusizi in Western Province; Huye, Nyaruguru, Nyamagabe, Ruhango and Nyanza in Southern Province; Rulindo and Musanze in Northern Province and Rwamagana and Bugesera in Eastern Province.

The project to run through 2028 seeks to help Rwanda increase the incomes of the rural poor by supporting inclusive and sustainable agri-export value chains, through scaling up of their capacity to practice climate-resilient farming and market access.

Kabayiza said that $37.72 million of the total project amount will be spent on enhancing climate-smart production and productivity of selected export-driven value chains. Such money will go into areas such as supporting smallholder farmers’ production and productivity. It is planned that the project will expand and rehabilitate plantation areas on 8,242 hectares of coffee, tea and horticulture while adopting innovative climate-resilient technologies and practices.

These, he said, include 1,700 hectares of horticulture (macadamia, avocado, mango, essential oil and other crops), 2, 410 hectares of tea as well as 4,132 hectares of coffee.

"We have old coffee trees to be rehabilitated and others to be replaced. Over 25 per cent of coffee trees are old across the country. The area on which tea is grown is still small and farmers need more tea seedlings. Tea cooperatives will be given vehicles to transport their produce to factories as well as grading machines. Exporters will be facilitated to get markets,” he said.

For coffee, the support also includes features hangars for cherry collection, eco-friendly drying technologies and units, effluent and solid waste handling facilities at cooperative level, and coffee washing stations.

"We designed this project by looking at issues in export and giving preferential attention to subsistence farmers and vulnerable and market-oriented producers,” he noted, explaining that they will include complementary interventions aimed at supporting the participation of its target groups in inclusive commercial value chains including off-taker processors, exporters, and rural SMEs sourcing their products from smallholder farmers.

Jean Nepo Nkurikiyinka, the Chairperson of the Federation of Rwanda Tea Growing Cooperatives (FERWACOTHE), welcome the project saying it will boost tea farmers’ income and competitiveness.

The federation comprises five unions and 21 cooperatives with 43,434 farmers growing tea on 13,546 hectares.

Devotha Mukaserire, the Chairperson of Rwanda Federation of Horticulture Cooperatives, said that horticulture crops are vulnerable to weather changes and the project could save farmers from losses.

"Both dry spells and heavy rains affect horticulture. We face huge post-harvest losses. We need immediate markets to sell the produce to avoid such losses and give away prices. We need training from the project for farmers, climate resilient seeds and ways to avoid post-harvest losses even during transport, we also need sustainable export contracts and the project can help ensure a sustainable market,” she said.

Emmanuel Ndagijimana, a horticulture farmer who exports French beans through exporting companies, said there are still challenges which the new project can address.

"These challenges include lack of access to sustainable market which triggers selling produce at giveaway prices,” he said.

Richard Kubana, the Director General in charge of Community Mobilisation and Youth Volunteers Coordination in Community Policing, said: "Over 255,000 small holder farmers is a big number to benefit and the project will provide jobs to rural communities. We are happy that 30 per cent are youth. We will mobilise youth at maximum level. This will reduce unemployment among the youth.”

The Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Ildephonse Musafiri, urged district authorities and other partners to a play big role for the success of the project implementation.

"Agriculture contributes 40 per cent of export earnings. We are now talking about competitiveness to increase agri-exports. Though the project beneficiaries are small holder farmers, they must also be competitive. The rural farmers should grow, mature and become big companies thanks to the project,” he noted.

Rwanda is confident it will achieve the target to generate $1 billion (about Rwf1.2 trillion) from agricultural exports in the fiscal year 2023/2024, considering the performance of the previous financial year, according to NAEB. According to a June 2023 statistics report by NAEB, Rwanda’s agricultural export revenues amounted to more than $857 million (about Rwf1 trillion) in the fiscal year 2022-2023, against more than $640.9 million in 2021-2022, representing an increase of 33.74 per cent.