The Rwf500m cold room at Kanombe Airport is underutilized by the business community, officials say.

The low demand for the facility is attributed to the absence of the international market for Rwandan produce, little investments in agribusiness, high costs involved in air transport as well as limited awareness among the business community.

The refrigerated facility, which was launched in May 2007 to facilitate storage of perishable exports and imports, has capacity to store 45 metric tonnes.

John Albert Murenzi, Coordinator of Magerwa warehouses at the airport said that the cold room has been empty since June this year when East African Growers, the only client to have made use of it stopped. East African Growers is exporter of French beans.

The construction of a cold room was considered a big step in the development of Rwanda’s horticulture sector. The project was meant to enable farmers and exporters diversify their exports.

"We have been operating under losses but we hope things will change after intensive campaign on creating awareness on using the facility,” Murenzi said.

The campaign is expected to be conducted by Magerwa, Rwanda Horticulture Development Authority (RHODA) Private Sector federation (PSF) and Rwanda Development Board (RDB) to encourage exporters to use the cold room, invest in agri-business and identify markets for Rwandan produce.

Some exporters say the charges by the cold room authorities are prohibitive.

However, Murenzi says that the Rwf50 charge per kg is relatively low compared to costs of maintening scanners, power and a full time employee to operate it.

"One tonne of perishable goods consume the same electricity like the full capacity of 45 tonnes,” he said.
Exporters pays Rwf38.6 per Kilogram and the government through ministry of Agriculture pays the remaining amount to encourage exporters.

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