Revenue from Rwanda’s agricultural exports increased by 66% in 7 years of the National Strategy for Transformation (NST1), which started in 2017 and goes until 2024.
Reports from the National Agricultural Export Development Board, NAEB, indicated that in 2017-2018 Rwanda earned $515 million, while in 2022-2023 it reached $857 million, equivalent to a rise of 66% in 7 years.
Sandrine Urujeni, NAEB Chief Operation Officer speaking to Rwanda Broadcasting Agency, said that through the National Strategy for Transformation (NST1) Programs, the government tried to search the market for agriculture products through exhibitions, increase production and cultivated area, increase investment in agriculture and livestock, and train partners.
Sandrine Urujeni pointed out that in the last seven years, Rwanda had set itself the goal of exporting well-washed coffee from 54% to 80%, which is an increase of 26%.
In the year 2022-2023, the washed coffee exported was 78.3%, meaning there was an increase of 24.3 if you take 54% and subtract the amount that was exported.
Regarding tea, the target of NST1 was to increase from 15 tea processing factories to 19, which means an increase of four. However, by 2022-2023, the number of factories had already reached 18, resulting in an increase of 94.7%.
In 2022-2023, coffee exports reached 78.3%.
In terms of tea production, the target was to increase from 7 tons per hectare to 8 tons per hectare. However, in 2022-2023, the production per hectare only reached 6.8 tons per hectare, which is a decrease of 2.9% compared to 7 tons in 2017, but also 85% below the target of eight tons per hectare.
The NAEB administration says that the decline in tea production is due to the effects of climate change, with some tea plantations washed away by floods in recent years.
Apart from these economic crops, targets were also achieved for other crops including flowers, vegetables and fruits, legumes, grains, animal products, and others.
Overall, other crops earned foreign exchange from 331 million US dollars, reaching more than 569.8 million US dollars, showing an increase of 72%.