Tag: Rwanda

East Africa poultry company Uzima Chicken receives US$3m follow-on debt from AgDevCo

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RWANDA – AgDevCo, UK based social impact investor with a focus on Africa’s agricultural sector has made a US$3.0 million follow-on mezzanine debt investment into Uzima Chicken Limited, a poultry company operating in Rwanda and Uganda. The East African poultry farm produces and distributes Sasso breed chickens with the aim to create value for rural households by providing better quality meat and eggs for consumption and sale. Uzima provides day-old chicks through a network of hundreds of small, independent distributors who rear the birds to six to eight weeks before…

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Rwanda based sustainable cooling centre ACES receives US$3.5m funding to spearhead operations

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RWANDA – The Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chain (ACES) in Rwanda has received US$3.5 million funding boost from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) of UK. ACES was established in 2020 by the Governments of Rwanda (GoR) and the United Kingdom (UK), UNEP’s United for Efficiency initiative, the Centre for Sustainable Cooling, and a range of academic institutions i.e., University of Rwanda, University of Birmingham, Cranfield University, London South Bank University and Heriot Watt University. The cooling centre aims to help get…

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Heifer International, Rwandan government announce US$10m investment in livestock farmers

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RWANDA – International development organization, Heifer International and the Rwanda Ministry of Agriculture have partnered to invest more than US$10 million in livestock industry and training of 23,400 smallholder farming households, geared towards improving incomes, food and nutrition security in the country. In Rwanda, one fifth of the population is food insecure, and the average income per household is approximately US$3.11 per day in the 15 districts in Rwanda’s Northern, Southern, Western provinces where PRISM will be implemented. Through the partnership, Heifer International aims to support farmers to reach a…

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EU to unlock potential of Rwanda’s coffee value chain with US$2.3m funding

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RWANDA – The European Union is seeking to support Rwanda’s coffee sector by providing €2 million (US$2.3 million) to Technoserve Inc, an American organisation under the framework of the Rwanda Ikawa Nziza Cyane project (RW INC). The EU support is aimed to unlock the country’s coffee value chain by improving performance of farmers, cooperatives, farmer organisations, private companies, financial institutions and public and private institutions to deliver high-quality, inclusive and sustainable coffee. “We are proudly supporting coffee sector in Rwanda; a leading export crop that contributes around 24 per cent…

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Rwandan agribusiness ventures to receive backing from FAO, JR Farms through Green Agribusiness Fund

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RWANDA – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rwanda has signed an agreement with JR Farms Limited to promote youth involvement in agriculture and create decent work opportunities.  JR Farms is a Rwandan led agri-enterprise operating in Rwanda, Nigeria and Zambia in the areas of food processing and retailing, agro commodity trading and consulting. Its corporate goals are to ensure food security, end hunger in Africa and create decent jobs for Africa’s women and young people. FAO and JR Farms have joined forces with the…

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Rwanda receives green-light to export unprocessed dry chilli to China

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RWANDA – Rwanda has assented a protocol for the export of dried chilli to China, giving it access to the Asian market. The agreement was inked between the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources of Rwanda and the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China, certifying that the quality of Rwanda’s dry chilli meets the standards required by China. Prior to the signing of the protocol, Rwandan companies were only exporting chili in other forms i.e., oil and paste, but not dried chilli. China’s e-commerce platform, Alibaba…

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Rwanda avails coffee products on Singapore’s leading online platform, largest supermarket chain

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RWANDA – Rwanda has expanded its coffee market beyond the traditional exports by availing the products in Singapore’s leading online retail store, RedMart and the country’s largest supermarket chain National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) FairPrice. According to reports by New Times Rwanda, NTUC FairPrice has 100 supermarkets across Singapore and the sale of the products on RedMart platform will avail to not only Singaporeans but customers across the globe. The development was announced by Jean de Dieu Uwihanganye, Rwanda’s High Commissioner to Singapore stating, “Rwanda’s products are now on the…

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New Zealand, European Commission supports Rwanda’s agriculture sector with funding

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Rwanda – The Government of New Zealand has joined in as the new partner of Farm to Market Alliance (FtMA), with its multi-year commitment of NZD 6.8 million (US$4.8m) to support smallholder farmers across Africa. As part of the contribution, Rwanda is set to receive NZD 4.2 million (US$3m) in the next three years to 2023, which will enable the organization scale up its support targeting 200,000 smallholder farmers in the country’s rural areas. FtMA is a unique alliance of six organizations with the mission to develop a sustainable and…

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Rwanda’s agricultural exports in second quarter register mixed bag of performance, overall declining by 5.5%

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RWANDA – Rwanda earned US$419.1 million from agricultural exports in the 2019/20 fiscal year, 10% down from US$465.4 million recorded in 2018/19. The decline, according to National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB), is attributed to the reduction of cross border trade due to Covid-19 impact including the lockdown measures put in place. Meanwhile, the country’s agriculture exports in the second quarter of 2020/21 ended December fetched US$113.9 million a 5.5% decline from US$120.6 million registered in the same period last year. According to the data from NAEB, export revenues from…

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Bad-weather disrupts construction of US$17.5m solar-powered pineapple drying plant in Rwanda

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RWANDA – Establishment of Rwf270 million (US$17.5m) solar-powered pineapple drying factory in Ngoma District, Eastern Province of Rwanda has been disrupted by heavy rains experienced in the region. This comes days after Rwanda Meteorology Agency warned of looming heavy rains, which are rare during this time of the year. According to reports by New Business Rwanda, a section of the wall of the 50% complete facility collapsed causing a major set back on the project which was scheduled to commence operations in August. Despite the unexpected out-come, Mapambano Nyiridandi, the…

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