Tuvie Onojaife, founder and Chief Executive of Kweza Farms, an agribusiness firm that specialises in the production of dry hybrid chilli, has laid out plans to venture into the local chilli business, following a ‘successful’ pilot season in Kayonza Disrict.
Onojaifei, who is currently based in Rwanda, told Doing Business in an exclusive interview that the venture comes at a time when the chilli business looks lucrative and viable in the country despite prevailing defies like access to finance, inadequate raw materials among others.
He recently secured $300,000 (approximately Rwf300 million) as initial investment, a figure that is set to quadruple by next year.
Further assessment of the market as well as cultivation are the immediate priorities, according to the experienced agriprenuer.
"Long term goal is to address the $465million dollar Rwandan Agro industry starting with dry hybrid chilli cultivation and export,” he added.
According to Onojaife, Kweza farms is currently working with Gashora Farms to boost the latter’s demand in Asia.
"The Partnership brought about a pilot season all through 2020 and found the business viable and lucrative. This prompted an increase in production capacity in 2021 to 50 tonnes and for the January 2022 season we are on pace to produce 120 tonnes of Hybrid chilli on 24 Hectares of Land in Kayonza district.”
Tuvie Onojaife.
He added, "The goal of the partnership is to hit 5000 tonnes of dry chilli production by 2024.”
Rwanda’s chilli market has in the recent past picked up steam, with some experts predicting that it could, in the near future, emerge as the country’s top export product, in the heels of tea and coffee.
The move has attracted several deals, both for export and farming, with the recent one being a Zimbabwean firm donating 2000 ha to Gashora farms.
Gashora farm is a Rwandan supplier of agro-products to both local and international markets. It has largely been exporting fresh and dry chilli.
"We chose here (Rwanda) because of the ease of doing business, it’s got the most stable government currently in Africa with a strong sense of security which makes Rwanda the hub for reaching various larger markets through investing in agriculture,” Onojaifei added.
Under the agreement, he said that he plans to collaborate with local cooperatives and develop value chains.
He also plans to promote the adoption of new techniques since the local market is currently dominated by traditional practices.
"We see this as beneficial to building farming communities around Rwanda and creating job opportunities as well as providing stability for families in these areas.”