RWANDA
AGRI-EXPORTS
1
Rwandan Women Eye Into Cash
Crop Export
The agriculture sector in
Rwanda employs the biggest part of the population
estimated at about 80%, but
in close examination;
majority of the workforce
are women.
“Si isti et istae, cur non ego?” St Agustine
Owing to uncivilized trends
and stereotypes that characterized society in the past
however, women were confined to low value crops and
where they were engaged in
high value export agricultural commodities, their roles
would be relegated to just
simple manual labor.
They are the backbone of Rwanda’s agriculture and
feed millions of mouths with the fruits of their labour.
Besides this being a disservice to Rwandan women,
downgrading their role in
Issue No 1
After the aftermath of women challenges over deacades
ago, Rwanda women have paved a way for Rwanda
development through their agriculture faculity.
This is because they make up 80 per cent of the
population of smallholder farmers around the country.
In this first edition of Rwanda Agri-Exports Newsletter,
we have gathered for you factual examples of activist
women, committed to stressing reaffirmation of their
role in Rwanda development economy rooted of agriculture exports.
Enjoy reading...
March 2015
agricultural
export activities meant that this
group which constitutes majority of the workforce in the sector made little or no input to
the development of export trade. Against the
backdrop, government of Rwanda through institutions like the National Agricultural Exports
Board (NAEB) embarked on efforts to improve
the involvement of women in the value chain
of the agricultural exports business.
Most of the efforts as have been implemented,
target building the business skills of women,
particularly their understanding of export trade
and bolster their knowledge in good farming
techniques of producing high value crops for
the global market.
Empowering women to fully participate in
agricultural export, as seen by the Rwandan
government is a vital ingredient to augmenting the productivity of the sector and thus its
contribution to national economic
growth.
By creating opportunities for women enrolled
in business to learn new skills, access jobs
and connect with new global markets so they
can thrive financially; Rwanda has empowered
her women to contribute without limitation
to their families’ wellbeing and bankrolling a
prosperous future for all.
As a result, Rwandan women have become
agents of change and economic development, not only in agriculture but across the
economy.
Women involved in coffee production and export testify of improved livelihood.
From casual laborers contracted to pick cherries during coffee harvesting, Rwandan women
have through several empowerment
programs taken up decision making positions
in the coffee industry. To empower them,
government has invested sizably in developing
skills for women farmers among other players and by so doing guaranteeing sustainable growth in the contribution that the coffee
industry makes to the overall economy. For
instance in Nyaruguru District, as a result of
the improved farming skills, women of Cooperative Nyampinga in Bunge Cell have been
able to sort and process cherries separately
from other deliverables, which improvement in
techniques have significantly increased their
income from coffee production.
Issue No 1
In Kayonza, through the capacity building2 interventions by government, women have built
ontothe successes of already existing cooperatives and formed several others. This transformation of skills and techniques of women
farmers has been leverage to impact the entire coffee industry especially since it is these
women who constitute the largest part of the
workforce. With a number of successes registered, smallholder women coffee producers
and exporters pride in the contributed they
have made towards transforming the coffee
value chain, making it inclusive and efficient.
Jeanne Murekatete, a coffee grower in Kayonza District says that believing in the power
and potential of smallholder women farmers
has enhanced innovation in the production
chain.
The women coffee producers according to
Murekatete received a yearlong training in
coffee growing and processing which greatly
improved their skills, and these were later utilized to increase their productivity and improve
their own economic wellbeing.
“From just being a housewife, I have become
so many other things; a coffee producer,
member and president of a cooperative and
a coffee specialist. Coffee offers women a
chance to improve their socioeconomic status
and to free from poverty,” she notes.
For Claudine Mukeshima another coffee grower the days when women’s roles in coffee
sector were relegated now are in the past.
“By choosing to involve and equip women
with knowledge and skills to produce and
process coffee Rwanda made the right choice,
the benefits of which are already visible and
we (women) are determined to seize the opportunity for economic emancipation that this
presents,” she noted.
March 2015
Rwandan women reap big from banana
3
distinct direction.
When she sips from the
wine bottle, her face
makes no efforts to
hide the pride as she
enjoys the fragrance,
witnesses the consistency in quality.
Coproviba
started
in
2004 when Murebwayire sat and thought of
starting in a cooperative
Christine Murebwayire showcasing her wine, photo: archive
instead of starting a business alone,
I recently found Christine Murebway- and called for a joint of three other
ire, a former schoolteacher, tasting women since she did not have
her own banana wine as she was enough capital to cover the start-up
watching employees process more costs by herself.
in a far off distance from where
she is seated, in the office.
Quality banana wine would fill an
She is the CEO of one of the biggest processors of banana wine in
Rwanda, Coproviba, a banana wine
cooperative located in the suburbs
of Kigali City.
A widowed mother of three children,
Murebwayire takes pride in her
achievements and the success that
the business she runs enjoys—her
banana wine is famous in Rwanda
and is steadily gaining international
recognition.
She examines the idea of pursuing
other small-scale options like investing more money in domestic marketing, start a new line of products
made from banana fiber; the ideas
are many
but as a businesswoman, she knows she will have to
chose and direct the business some
Issue No 1
important niche. Murebwayire and
her co-founders asked six more
people to join the co-op, and each
of the 10 members contributed at
least 90,000 RWF ($153) as initial
investment.
That year, they launched their banana wine business.
Since then, the business has grown
in leaps each year and Murebwayire
says she sees a great future ahead
of Coproviba.
Prior to the Coproviba’s story however, there is an even more compelling tale; of Murebwayire, its founder
which led to the establishment of
the former.
Author Stephen Richards once said
“The only time you fail is when you
fall down and stay down.”
Murebwayire’s story is one of hose
March 2015
4
that founding of Coproviba and
where it is today is just a part of
the story that has made the coopGrowing up in a rural setting, Mureb- erative the biggest wine producer in
wayire was taught about all the dos Rwanda.
and don’ts of a Rwandan girl and Besides selling to Rwanda, Murebwoman; being a good house wife wayire shared that they currently
who takes care of her husband and export over 400 crates of the wine
children.
per month to neighboring Tanzania.
Economic activities were considered “COPROVIBA activities have created
masculine and so when she got employment opportunities in the vilmarried, she concentrated on doing lages and people can now afford
her part; tending the home and its domestic basic needs.
occupants.
Her husband had to fend for eve- With the growing production and
rything she and the children needed good performance of the company,
and it was fine with both of them Coproviba has continued to advance
around.
its production technology and more
But she perhaps was not that lucky is expected to come soon.
for things to stay the same; her For Murebwayire, the success pushed
husband tragically died in 2003, and her to seek more knowledge and
this sent her all places as she tried from a rural woman with little acato make meaning of life and find demic qualifications, she went back
means to cater for the family.
to school and is currently a BachThings hit record low and it seemed elors degree holder in rural develeverything was getting worse. She opment.
could not afford food, or pay rent. Also, she has completed a number
She had to survive off support from of other short courses from differfamily friends and family.
ent universities in Japan, USA and
But all changed one day, at least within Rwanda.
in her mind, when while listening to All her children have gone to study
the radio as then Minister of gender and the eldest in now in the United
and family Promotion Late. Alloy- Kingdom from where he is pursuing
sia Inyumba was exhorting women his academic goals.
to take up business projects, form Besides Banana wine, Coproviba
cooperatives and that government is engaged in Horticulture and are
would support those groupings.
among the few who export horticulShe arose and vowed she was go- tural products to Europe.
ing to follow the Minister’s
advice to the letter.
She went out and mobilized her
neighbour women that founded the
cooperative.
Everything that happened after the
many inspirational narratives
give life to the saying.
Issue No 1
March 2015
Why Kankuyu engaged in bee keeping
5
to supplement her harvests if she
were to care for her children.
Starting in 2011, Kankuyu says she
has never regretted the choice.
Today she supplies honey to many
urban centres countrywide including
the
capital,
Kigali.
Dressed in full protective gear to
inspect new bee colonies, Kankuyu
as other women in her community
says bee keeping is a friendly
way of making a living. Each
of her beehives produces at least
With programs to empower women 50 kilograms every harvest with
farmers, their involvement has gone each going for at least Frw4,500.
past traditional cash crops to include
new high value agricultural production. She now has ten beehives which
For instance, women in Ngoma bring her Frw2.25million every
and Kayonza districts have turned harvest.
to bee keeping and the impacts
that they have had on their lives
and communities cannot be exaggerated.
45 years old Immaculate Kankuyu is
one of the Eastern Province women
who have reaped handsomely from
bee
keeping.
Although she considered it a dangerous
venture, Kankuyu joined bee keeping.
“I had tried working in mines but I
could not stay for long because of
the laborious nature of the job,”
she said. “I looked around and
found that the only and most suiting
alternative for me was bee keeping”.
The single mother of six says that
her family stays on a small piece of
land that was not enough to guarantee their subsistence from cultivating
food crops; she needed something
Issue No 1
Contact NAEB via:
Phone:
(+250) 0252 57 56 00
E-mail:
[email protected]
website :
www.naeb.gov.rw
P.o Box 104
Kigali - Rwanda
March 2015