Rwanda

Known for its high quality, Rwanda’s tea commands high prices, and the market continues to grow rapidly.

Tea is a key export earner and the third largest employer in Rwanda.

The formal tea sector employs over 60,000 workers, alongside 80,000 informal workers, and provides livelihoods to more than 45,000 smallholder farmers.

Rwanda has 18 tea estates nationally, all working with smallholder farmers who provide around 60% of the crop. About 97% of tea is exported, earning over USD 110 million in 2023/24. National plans aim to grow export revenues to USD 175 million by 2029.

ETP works closely with the National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB), facilitating multi-stakeholder dialogue and collective action to address sector challenges and strengthen sustainable growth.

Regional priorities

Key priorities in Rwanda’s tea sector include:

Improving livelihoods and income distribution through fair wages, better plucking systems, and stronger cooperative governance.
Enhancing productivity and quality via improved access to extension services, capacity building, and adoption of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs).
Promoting climate resilience by supporting sustainable agricultural techniques and resource management.
Encouraging inclusion of women and youth in decision-making to foster equitable opportunities and long-term sector stability.

Facts & figures

Despite being the third largest employer and a key export sector, average smallholder farmer income remains very low.
Conventional farming techniques result in yields 12.5% lower than on estates.
Tea plucker shortages, largely due to low wages, combined with the limited use of agricultural technology such as plucking mechanization, discourages young people from pursuing careers in the tea sector.

Rwanda’s constitution guarantees gender equality, but social norms continue to limit women’s roles in the sector, especially in decision-making processes and access to financial and land resources.
Women face barriers to leadership, decision-making, and use of assets and inputs, resulting in lower productivity and income, as well as exposure to gender-based violence.

Rwanda has experienced a 1.4°C temperature rise since 1970, threatening tea quality and production.
Competing demands for land, water, and forestry, combined with high fuelwood consumption (83% nationally), put pressure on natural resources.
Limited adoption of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs), rising input costs and the lack of coordination in capacity development exacerbate land degradation.

Our initiatives in Rwanda

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2015–2022 | Status: Completed

Improving livelihoods – Strategic Alliance

Malawi, Rwanda |