AfCFTA Success Story:
Rwanda businesses: Joel Tuyishime’s journey
Avocados from Africa:
Meet a Rwandan fruit exporter
Joel Tuyishime’s journey into horticulture exports began with avocados. Tuyishime is the CEO of Agri Solution Ltd, a horticulture export company based in Kigali, Rwanda.
“We started horticulture in 2017. At the time, Rwanda produced few products for exportation and the government was [focused] on increasing exportation levels. That’s when I started learning about export. We started with avocados because it was needed in Dubai,” says Tuyishime.
Agriculture is a key economic sector in Rwanda, employing, according to the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), some 70% of Rwanda’s population, and contributing nearly a third of the country’s GDP.
Increasing agricultural exports has been a strategic priority for the Rwandan government. The RDB reports a significant increase due to that effort with the value of horticulture exports rising from $5-million in 2005 to $25-million in 2018.
Tuyishime is one of around 45 horticulture export businesses listed by the RDB, selling fruit cultivated in Rwanda’s fertile volcanic valleys to businesses in the United Arab Emirates and Europe.
Meeting international standards
Tuyishime says the success of his business has come down to investigating demand beyond Rwanda’s borders and working with farmers to raise the quality of their products to meet international standards. Initially, he says, this process was difficult as it involved getting farmers to change how they farmed.
“For instance, if [buyers] want an organic product, we would have to work with an agronomist to show the farmers how to do it, so we got good quality [fruits], which are needed at an international level.
“In the beginning, it was difficult to say, ‘You have to do this, you have to stop doing this.’ But slowly, a few farmers started to understand and wanted to get involved in exportation. We began with five farmers, and now we work with many all over the country,” says Tuyishime.
Tuyishime says they help farmers and cooperatives get bigger yields through improved farming techniques such as radical terraces (which reduce soil erosion), making compost, and providing improved seed varieties and agricultural equipment. And this process is, quite literally, bearing fruit.
More than avocados
Apart from avocados, Agri Solution Ltd now also exports passion fruit, avocado, tamarillo, macadamia nuts, guava, chayote squash, kale, chilli and mushrooms to buyers in the Middle East and Europe. From making just one shipment a month, Tuyishime says the firm currently makes a shipment a week (and sometimes more).
Tuyishime is enthusiastic about the possibility of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Time to trade with Africa
“It’s good for farmers if the AfCFTA works. Markets will increase for what they produce, and then it will be easier to trade with our neighbours.”
Tuyishime says the AfCFTA will finally tackle a frustration for businesses like his – that it’s easier and more affordable to get their products to overseas markets than to sell them to neighbouring countries.
“Taxes, the high cost of transportation and the difficulty getting visas to travel to other African countries to understand their needs currently make things difficult,” Tuyishime says.
He hopes leaders on the continent work quickly to implement the AfCFTA, which is expected to reduce these barriers to trade.
“If I or my child or my grandchild can go to another African country to explore opportunities, it will be good. African people and our governments need to work together to help AfCFTA grow, so we can move these barriers.”
