Country’s first silk textile on market next month

Rwanda’s first silk fabric produced by Usine Textile du Rwanda (Utexrwa) will be out on the local market early February of this year. In an interview, the Utexrwa Managing Director, Raj Rajendran, said that the launch will see silk ties and umishananah availed on the local market earlier than expected. ‘These are typically made in Rwanda’, he added. This follows the company’s investments of US$5 million in the importation of semi-automatic yarning machines, which followed the mulberry cultivation in Nyandungu and manpower training in late 2007. The management of Utexrwa thus projected their first commercial silk products to hit the market by mid 2009 as it underwent different stages of production. ’After the launch, the company will focus on value addition and export markets’, said Rajendran. He added, ‘Our first batch of export products is expected in March or April this year. This might fetch in about US$15-20 million per annum in the next four to five years’. While the company plans to increase on production and value, management is however concerned that the cocoons produced by farmers are still below capacity and the skilled labour in the country is not enough. ‘To bridge the gap, we are still training locals on mulberry cultivation and silk worm rearing with the support of defence and agriculture ministries’, the Managing Director explained. The importation of silk worms being expensive, and the company in a bid to cut costs developed a hatching machine which has made local production of eggs to be made with an intention of boosting expansion plans. The Government also plans to have 600,000 hectares of mulberry trees planted to benefit 60,000 poor families. It therefore pledged about Rwf.154 million particularly for training in various sericultural activities including mulberry farming activities, silkworm rearing and weaving to ensure that they produce quality silk products. Rwanda Investment Group has planted 20 hectares of mulberry in Rusizi, Western Province. Utexrwa with the joint support of Rural Sector Support Project(RSSP) established Gasabo Sericulture Cooperative to handle production and marketing of silk. Utexrwa is Rwanda’s oldest single textile industry that diversified into silk production last year. Rajendran said that the industry expects to create about 6,000 jobs within farm and rural sectors with an additional 500 jobs created within the textile industry. Currently, it employs about 800 (both skilled and unskilled) workers. Meanwhile, Utexrwa has also unveiled plans to extract banana and pineapple leaves into fabric. This is under the support of Workforce Development Authority (WDA), and Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). Ends

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Country’s first silk textile on market next month