Rwanda has an ambitious plan to position horticulture as one of the sectors to help grow the Country’s export revenue.

The sector currently contributes about 50 per cent of non-traditional exports, according to Rwanda Development Board (RDB).

However, farmers engaged in the production of a variety of vegetables and fruits say that the lack of reliable and sustainable market continues to undermine horticulture farming.

According to Moussa Moustapha Musabyimana, a farmer based in Busasamana in Rubavu District, farmers grapple with lack of market, highlighting his experience trying to break into the local market.

"A few weeks ago, we went across hotels in Rubavu trying to convince them to buy our produce, with the help of district officials. After reassurance, we never heard from them again,” he said of their cooperative’s recent experience.

Most hotels countrywide still heavily rely on imported vegetables and fruits from the region and beyond, despite local farmers having tried to increase their production and supply to the domestic market.

"They just don’t care about Made in Rwanda products,” Musabyimana who is part of Kaidu, a cooperative that specializes in the production of different vegetables, added.

Rwanda’s horticulture exports are dominated by onion, fresh beans, fresh peas, tomato and cabbage. File.

Musabyimana was part of a group of farmers, suppliers and buyers engaged in horticulture business who were meeting in Nyanza on Tuesday to highlight their challenges working in horticulture.

The meeting – Horticulture Market Place – was organised under Strengthening Education for Agricultural Development (SEAD), the initiative funded by the Governments of Netherlands and implemented through the Rwanda Development Board (RDB).

Gloriose Mukarugomwa, a Huye based farmer in the Southern Province, shared similar concerns with Musabyimana.

"We have hard-working farmers in our district and abundant land with a good climate during most seasons. That is a basis and a winning proposition for people who want to invest here,” she said.

"Our biggest challenge right now is (lack of) reliable market,” she added.

Mukarugomwa said that oftentimes they hate serving their closer market places because their produce is bought on unfair prices.

Opportunity

Justin Mukiza, an agronomist in Kamonyi District, said the same frustration that majority of their farmers have is growing and never getting where to supply their produce.

"We don’t have consistent markets. There is a time when they (farmers) harvest more, only to take them to the market and they are given peanuts. Some of our produce rot in fields,” he noted.

He highlighted a case of Kavunja and Bishenyi cooperatives that have grown onions, tomatoes and beans but had failed so secure the market.

Yet, he said, the district has potential to grow more horticulture products.

The district has 800 hectares dedicated to horticulture farming with potential to produce 4,761 tonnes of different products per year.

Kamonyi has a competitive advantage being in close proximity with Kigali where it is easier to transport the produce from farm and harvesting facilities to international markets.

"We haven’t seen people leveraging this opportunity,” Mukiza said.

Their primary market currently is their own district, Kigali and Muhanga.

Claude Nshimiyimana, a farmer based in Kamonyi, also argued that there is huge potential to grow more horticulture products, but the same challenge that most farmers have is lack of access to markets that they can always count on.

"There are a few cases where we have grown for buyers who end up not showing up at the end of harvest. They don’t want to share the risks with us (farmers),” she noted.

In Nyanza District, a few hours away from Kamonyi, the district presents potential for horticulture but Jean d’Amour Musabyemungu, a cash crops officer at the district, indicated that more often farmers lack the right skills to produce for international markets.

"Farmers need to change perceptions about farming. Many still believe they cannot solely rely on horticulture as a professional farming activity,” he said.

To facilitate farmers produce quality, he said, it is important to provide training around preparing nursery beds, transplanting, irrigation, and best practices of harvesting.

Nyanza has 710 hectares of land dedicated for horticulture of which 301 hectares can be irrigated throughout the year without relying on rainfall.

Beyond markets

Farmers are currently grappling with high costs of transportation, many don’t have post-harvest storage and cold room facilities, and their situation is sometimes complicated by erratic rains due to climate change.

Gaudence Mukamurenzi, the commodity value chain trade specialist at the Ministry of Trade and Commerce, indicated that middlemen also rule the market in Rwanda, a threat to farmers who are already struggling.

"They tend to hide price information from farmers so that they benefit from that situation,” she said.

At the same time, she added, farmers have limited negotiating and bargaining skills

According to Fabienne Bizaba, who’s in charge of operations at Proxifresh Rwanda, a firm that supplies French beans and spring onions, serving international markets require a lot of checks and meeting certain requirements.

"For instance, our clients demand that we supply 100 per cent quality products and they ask things like spraying records. These are requirements a few farmers can meet,” she noted.

On the other hand, John Mugabo, the deputy lead project in charge of field operations for SEAD, indicated that farmers are still fragmented – one of the factors he attributes to the problem.

"Unlike coffee, tea and other cash crops, there is no organization in vegetable growing in many parts of the country. Horticulture sector remains highly fragmented,” he said.

Under SEAD, local farmers have been trained in crop production, food processing, water management, and agri-business, among other things, with the aim of bridging gaps in market linkages.

Mugabo revealed that under the project, a new science training and innovation centre for horticulture will be established next year to continue supporting farmers.

The outlook

According to the National Export Agriculture Board (NAEB), Rwanda targets 46,314 tonnes of horticulture harvest and annual export revenue of $130 million by 2024.

Peace Kabanyana, the regional and international market development specialist at NAEB, the target could be realized through increased demand for horticulture products and expanding the country’s markets.

"Africa’s urbanisation growth is likely to drive demand for fruits and vegetables. We also see potential to serve west and central African countries who currently source their products from European markets,” she argued.

Rwanda, she added, has the potential to serve regional markets by leveraging preferential treatments, including the East African community market, and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), among others.

Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, and Uganda, are the top regional destinations for the country’s horticulture products, but the country also exports to Europe and the Middle East.