Chinese market offers Rwanda good opportunity for chili export

A protocol related to exporting dried chili from Rwanda to China, which was signed on Thursday, offers a good market opportunity to Rwanda in terms of expanding its chili exports, a Rwandan official said Friday.

The protocol, which allows Rwanda to export dried chilies that meet inspection and quarantine requirements, brings a "huge" opportunity for Rwanda, considering the market demand in China, Jean Marie Vianney Munyaneza, Emerging Value Chains Division Manager at Rwanda's National Agricultural Export Development Board, said in a phone interview.

It will greatly increase the volume of Rwandan exports to China as well as generate more revenues for producers, he said.

Rwanda will mobilize farmers to increase the production in order to make them benefit from the Chinese market, said the official, adding that the country will meanwhile maintain product standards so that it can secure as many deals as possible under the protocol.

Rwandan agribusiness company, Gashora Farm, which had entered into an agreement with a Chinese company to export dried chilies to China, told Xinhua that it is ready to supply dried chilies to China, envisaging exports between 10,000 and 50,000 tonnes every year for a period of five years through the agreement.

The protocol is also significant for chili farmers in Rwanda by offering them a reliable and sustainable market for their products, said Dieudonne Twahirwa, the company's managing director.

According to him, the uniqueness of chilies grown in Rwanda is that farmers don't use chemicals and much fertilizer.