Hilltops and teacups: How Rwanda is maximising its hilly landscape and boosting up small-scale farmers for quality tea production

Dawn breaks over the lush, green fields of the country of 1 000 hills. As the sun rises, the ethereal mists shrouding the hilltops begin to lift, signalling another day for Rwanda’s agricultural workers.

Tea leaves shimmer in the rising sun as tea pluckers don their colourful yellow protective gear, safeguarding them from scratches as they plunge into verdant rows of tea plants. A wicker basket is strapped to their backs, ready to collect the leaves they expertly pluck. This wave of yellow-clad tea harvesters works swiftly and methodically through the rows as birdsongs fill the air. Their daily efforts have helped cement tea as Rwanda’s second largest export after coffee.

Rwanda’s agriculture sector is the backbone of this landlocked East African nation, employing an estimated 64.5 percent of the population and accounting for 27 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

And tea has changed the lives of many rural communities in Rwanda.

Over 83 percent of Rwanda’s agricultural production is carried out by smallholder farmers, including in the tea producing region of Nyaruguru in southern Rwanda.

“I am proud to be a tea farm owner. I used to work for other people, but now I provide work for others,” says Bertride Nyiranzigiye, a 65-year-old woman farmer who began producing tea on her plot of just under one hectare in 2018, when the Government was working with local farmers to expand tea production in the region.

“Nyaruguru, once it was identified for expansion of tea production, now attracts people from other districts who come to work and earn money from tea harvesting.”

Ndagijimana Jean Marie Vianney, a 39-year-old fellow tea farmer in Nyaruguru and father of four children, recalls, “I was living in extreme poverty, and my family was struggling. I saw other tea farmers doing well, so I decided to start tea farming myself. I wanted to improve my livelihood.”

Jean took part in the Government’s specialised training programme and then decided to clear his sweet potato fields to grow tea instead.  

“When I started harvesting tea, it helped me to lift my family from the poverty we were all living before. Now, I can get clothes and health insurance for my family. I can also afford school fees for my children. We’ve improved our nutrition too. This is all the result of tea farming.” He believes the perennial nature of the tea crop will also allow his children to continue production in the future.

See https://www.fao.org/newsroom/story/hilltops-and-teacups/en