In the aftermath of the devastating genocide of 1994, Rwanda... has attracted private investment and begun to recover from the horrors of a civil war that saw 800,000 Rwandans - around 10 per cent of the population - massacred, and a country left in ruins.
Although the vast majority of Rwandans are subsistence farmers, some are now involved in initiatives to promote high-value exports of cassava, coffee, geraniums, and chilli peppers, a relatively new crop to Rwanda. These initiatives have been supported by USAID and SPREAD (Sustaining Partnerships to enhance Rural Enterprise and Agribusiness Development), in partnership with other organisations...
In France, cassava flour (fou fou) from Rwanda was already being sold in grocery stores for €4 per kilo, but the product was generally poorly prepared and packaged. By establishing an agreement to deliver an improved product for a better price, USAID worked with private Rwandan investors and farmers to process and package the flour - retailed as 'bon foufou.' For Rwanda, says Timothy Schilling, director of SPREAD, this was "the first product grown, processed, packaged and exported directly to a European supermarket chain."
High quality chillies were identified as a potential export crop, particularly as the crop has an established international market. The bird's eye chilli pepper variety was chosen for its high value, and the availability of labour for the extensive picking and sorting required.
In 2005, bird's eye chilli exports totalled 21 tons and improved cassava flour 48 tons involving over 500 smallholder chilli pepper producers and over 2,000 cassava farmers. Another 150 people were involved in post-harvest work. Unfortunately, the following year a lack of funding led to a significant drop in the number of participating farmers but the project is moving forward once more and Schilling reports that one container each of cassava flour and chillies was shipped this year to France and one container of chillies was also exported to The Netherlands.
During recent months, a further 50 hectares of chillies have been planted, and construction of a cassava flour factory is underway. "We're also investigating whether we can use local coffee washing stations to process flour during the coffee off-season," said Schilling. "The results look promising."
Farming bird's eye chillies is a new challenge to Rwandan farmers. Schilling says "We had to start at the ground level. We did training in nursery development, transplanting, mulching, picking, drying and food safety interventions like wearing masks." The other main challenge for the chilli growers was in meeting the requirements to produce, process and transport commercial volumes. "Because the farmers all have little garden plots, we need lots of farmers," says Schilling. "That means organisation and management; things they aren't used to."
Schilling concludes: "Even though these value chains are still young and very fragile, working with public-private partnerships really is the way to achieve economic rural development."
