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By Annonciata Byukusenge
Alexis Mutungirehe wakes up at five in the morning every day. His main activity consists of tea farming on a small 3-hectare land farm located in the Busanze sector, a remote rural village in the Nyaruguru district in southern Rwanda.
Mutungirehe never envisioned that his efforts in the farmlands would pave the way for his neighbors in the remote village to pursue prosperous lives through a tea plantation.
Residents of the Busanze sector say that for most of Nyaruguru’s history, the land was only used for subsistence crops or eucalyptus plantations. This left families in constant hunger, as much of the hilly terrain was covered with pine trees, herbs known as “ishing” in the local language, and eucalyptus forests instead of food.
“Before tea farming came to our area, there was widespread hunger. We often migrated to other regions, like Amayaga, Bugesera, Umutara, and Gisaka, just to find food. We weren’t looking for money, because even if you earned cash, there was nothing to buy in Nyaruguru. We used to return home carrying food on our heads after doing casual labor elsewhere,” said Mutungirehe.
He explains that life began to change in 2016 when a project funded by Browns Plantations Rwanda (BPR), the Government of Rwanda (GoR), the Wood Foundation Africa (TWFA), and the UK Government introduced tea farming to the district.
“I used to grow eucalyptus on 3 ha of land. After five years, when I harvested, I earned only 800,000 Rwandan francs. While waiting for the trees to mature, I had to leave my family to find food elsewhere. It was a hard life,” he said.
Since 2022, those same three hectares have been replanted with tea, supported by the SICON project.
“Tea is different. Six months after planting, you start harvesting. Every month, I now earn around 100,000 francs in profit after repaying my loans. In just eight months, I earn the same 800,000 francs I used to wait five years for from eucalyptus,” he explains.
He adds that the price of tea leaves depends on the global market. At present, farmers are paid 410 Rwandan francs per kilogram, and their harvest ranges between 1,000 and 1,100 kilograms per month. His gross income is between 300,000 and 400,000 francs monthly, though it drops during the dry season. I have 11 permanent employees.
What has changed in the lives of Nyaruguru residents who are dedicated to tea farming?
When asked what has changed most in the community, Mutungirehe says the first victory was ending hunger.
“Hunger was our biggest challenge. Children suffered from malnutrition, stunting was common, and many pregnant women had nutrition-related illnesses,” he recalls.
His testimony is the same as that of Nyirahabimana Sabine, a 30-year-old mother. She says that before the tea project began, her family’s health was in crisis.
“My child suffered from kwashiorkor because we didn’t have food. When tea farming started, everything changed. I got a job at the Kibeho factory, and now my children no longer suffer from malnutrition. I, too, regained my strength as a mother,” she says.
Nyirahabimana adds that childcare was once another barrier for women.
“Even when I found casual work, I often couldn’t take it because I had a little child and no one to look after them. That problem ended when the factory built us a daycare center. We now leave our children there under professional care while we work. Later, they graduate to primary school,” she explains.
The factory’s support doesn’t stop there. Mothers receive four months of paid maternity leave, and all employees are covered by health insurance.
Workers who show full attendance records receive extra food packages, beans, and maize flour on top of the daily lunch and cup of tea provided. Salaries are also performance-based: “The more kilos of tea you pluck, the more money you earn,” she adds.
From Green Leaf to Cup
How do fresh green leaves become the tea we drink?
Tuyizere Cartas, a 25-year-old worker at Kibeho Tea Factory, is in charge of sorting tea. She explains the process from green leaves to a cup.
“Farmers bring us fresh green leaves. We pass them through specialized machines starting with withering, then rolling, then drying, then sorting. At the final stage, the machines separate the tea into different grades: grade 1, grade 2, and so on, depending on market demand and customer requirements.”
Steps from green leaves to a cup in the factory
Byukusenge Gerard, production manager at Browns Plantations Rwanda, notes that demand is still greater than supply.
“Farmers now cultivate over 6,400 hectares of tea, but we still can’t meet market demand. In the dry season, we receive about 18 tons of green leaf daily, which produces 3.5 to 4 tons of made tea. In the rainy season, we receive 80–90 tons of leaves per day, producing between 8 and 9 tons per day,” he says.
National Impact
Speaking at the factory’s official inauguration, Agriculture Minister Dr. Mark Cyubahiro Bagabe praised the progress. “This factory currently has the capacity to process 2,000 tons of tea per year. But the goal is to reach 7,500 tons annually. That means we’re now operating at about 30% of our potential,” he said.
The minister Cyubahiro encouraged farmers to increase production, emphasizing that a second factory in Munini will only be built once the Kibeho Factory operates at 80% capacity.
The long-term vision is to establish two factories in Nyaruguru, with a combined processing capacity of 15,000 tons of tea annually, a project expected to transform both the local economy and Rwanda’s tea industry.
