About Rwanda Tea
BACKGROUND
Tea is one of Rwanda’s major agricultural export commodities. It was introduced in Rwanda in the 1950s.
Rwanda tea growing regions are endowed with an ideal tropical climate with well-distributed rainfall and sunny days, high-elevated grounds, and acidic soils which are favorable for growing high-quality teas.
Rwanda tea has gained enormous global acceptability because of its quality; its strength, bright color, flavor, and consistency in manufacturing, have made it renowned all over the world as a superior beverage. At the Mombasa auction, Rwanda tea fetches the highest prices every week.
Black CTC tea is the predominantly type of tea produced in Rwanda, making it suitable for use in blends popular in most black-tea markets. Other types like Green tea, White tea, Orthodox tea, and Organic tea are also produced.
Currently, there are more than 33,000 hectares planted with tea in the Northern, Western, and Southern provinces of Rwanda, made up of farmers' plantations and Tea factory owned big tea plantations called Industrial Blocs (IB).
In Rwanda, over 50,000 tea farmers are organized into 23 tea cooperatives and out-grower service companies, with 19 privately owned operational tea factories. The tea cooperatives are grouped into five Unions, which are collectively under one umbrella organization called FERWACOTHE. The tea factories, cooperatives, tea packers, and the federation are united under the Rwanda Tea Association (RTA), which aims to promote and support the development of the tea sector in Rwanda.
TEA SECTOR PERFORMANCE
Tea production increased steadily over the past decades from 5,910 tons of made tea in 1980 to 40,003 tons by June 2024. This production is a result of processed green leaf of which about 65% of is supplied by tea farmers (smallholders) while the remaining 35% is supplied from Industrial Blocs.Tea generated USD 114.8 million from the export sales of 38,467.7 tons of made tea in the year 2023/2024.About 97.3% of tea exports are exported in raw form; 80% of this is sold in Auctions, 17.3% directly and 2.7% locally. The high performance of Tea sector is the result of Government and private efforts including:
ONGOING TEA PROJECTS
Rugabano Tea project
The project started in 2017 when the GoR signed an agreement with Luxmi Tea Company with the objective of mobilizing farmers to plant 4000 ha for smallholders and 438 ha for Industrial Bloc in Karongi District, Rugabano sector.
Currently 1859 ha are planted of which 1498 ha belongs to smallholders under Rugabano Service Company and 361 ha belong to Industrial Bloc under Rugabano Tea Factory which started operating in 2019.
Nyaruguru Tea Project
Recognizing opportunities in tea plantations in Nyaruguru district. GoR signed two Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with UNILIVER (currently Lipton tea) in 2016 and 2020, aiming to plant 6000 hectares across 3 sectors (Kibeho, Munini, and Busanze).
Currently 2843 ha are planted of which 2,108 ha belongs to smallholders under Service Company Outgrowers Nyaruguru (SCON South and SCON North) while other 735 ha are for Kibeho Tea Factory Industrial Bloc.
Lipton Tea Factory started to be operational in March 2024.
