On the final leg of the four-day citizen outreach, the RPF Chairman President Paul Kagame on Sunday visited Rugabano Tea Factory in Karongi District, where he called upon all stakeholders involved to work towards maximizing the position of Rwanda’s tea on the international market.
Rwanda’s tea is known for its high quality and is among the best in the world, according to different metrics.
The chairman said that the factory is important to the country because it employs many people who get money to sustain their families, while investors also get profit and pay taxes.
Rugabano is the country’s second biggest tea buyer.
“The quality and impact of Rwanda’s tea stand out. The quality of our tea is among the best not just in the region but across the world. This is an opportunity to exploit and we have all it takes to maintain quality and derive more benefits to the people of Rwanda,” said President Kagame.
He pledged to have necessary infrastructure in place to facilitate an increase in tea yield.
Rugabano tea plant is run through a firm by Wood Foundation, a venture philanthropic organisation.
According to Knopp David, the Wood Foundation Africa Director; “Less than six years ago, none of this was here; there was no commercial firming going on. In 2017 along with several partners, we embarked on a long journey to transform the region in Greenfield development in tea. To date, we are looking at yielding 74 percent high-quality leafs in Rwanda which is currently the best in the country.”
David said it is the company’s duty to maintain quality coming from Rwanda.
Meanwhile, as investors speak highly of Rwandan tea, farmers have equally drawn strategies of how they can make a fortune from the investment.
Abubacar Byusa, has a ten-hectare land and one of the best earners from tea farming. According to him, farmers deep down in the hills of Karongi District have started to financially connect with the international community.
“Having quality tea comes from an art that we deployed in cultivating. When the factory we supply makes good profits, they call us and give us a bonus. There is accountability in the whole process and that’s how we connect with the world; how we cultivate results to the benefits we get,” he said.
Rugabano Tea Factory was established in 2019 as a result of an agreement between the Government of Rwanda and Luxmi Tea Company Private Limited – a subsidiary of Wood Foundation.
