Finance minister calls for increased tea production

WESTERN PROVINCE NGORORERO-The Minister of Finance James Musoni has advised tea growers in the country to increase the capacity of production and the quality in order to meet the set target of 100,000 tons per hectare in the next five years. He was speaking after visiting Rwanda Mountain Tea, Rubaya-Nyabihu Tea Factories which occupies over 200 hectares employing 8000 people. Musoni commended the investors who benefited from government privatization of the factories in 2006 for doubling their capacity through factory extension, installation of new machines and a $2.5million investment. The chairman of Rwanda Mountain Tea, Egide Gatera said that the company is committed to increase production, improve product quality and to access worldwide markets. He however pointed out that infrastructure such as roads and dams to the tea factory are in a poor state which affects the transportation of green leaves and black tea, and limited land for expansion. The government under its privatization policy yielded 90 percent of the estate shares on the two tea estates to Rwanda Mountain Tea. In his presentation, the Managing Director of the Tea Factories, George Nihal Bopearatchy, revealed that besides the in-filling of new surface of 154 hectares of the plantations, outside growers have also increased their production. He said that the factories have added value through branding their own tea by producing tea bags and loose tea in different packages for sale on local and international markets. The visitors who included Permanent Secretaries in the Ministries of Commerce, Infrastructure and the Director General of OCIR THE, toured the entire processing plant which now produces 260kgs of tea per hour. Located approximately 145 kilometres from Kigali, in the remotest hilly areas with poor road networks, the tea plants grow on the rich volcanic soils in the cool climate and workers have formed cooperatives and enjoy social benefits like schools, clean water and earn income. Ends

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Finance minister calls for increased tea production