Scotland’s second richest man Sir Ian Wood has announced plans to invest a total of £7.5 million from his family’s charitable trust in the development of the tea industry in Rwanda.
Through a six-year project, named Imbarutso of £5.6 million about 30,000 tea farmers in Rwanda are expected to benefit from it while at the same time increasing their yield and income.
Smallholder tea farmers in Rwanda have said more investment will pave the way for their development as well as increase the incomes of the smallholder farmer tea producers and their families.
Do Rwandan Tea factories want small farmers to develop?
It is obvious that as Small tea farmers continue to complain about the increase of the salary, Tea industry owner do not sit quietly.
The example here is farmers of Cyohoha-Rucyeri tea plantations. They have been complaining about low payment and their complaints didn’t ended in Vain because earlier this week the tea factory owners have announced to increase their salaries having shifted from Rwf 500 to Rwf 900 per day.
Another move is that these tea farmers will now receive a comprehensive social security system that addresses the social security needs for their future.
Although the salary is still low, Tea farmer have said they are happy of new salaries noting that they expect more increase as soon as more investors will be coming in Rwandan Tea industry.
Experience in East Africa indicates that where the smallholder farmers own their own factories, they receive approximately 70 % of the made tea price against only 25 to 30% if they simply sell their product to an estate owned factory.
Leave a Reply