Since 2019, Diego Twahirwa, a Rwandan chili farmer, has been exporting his farm products to China. Though he also exports his products to some European capitals, China’s opportunities are so huge because the market there is consistent and has acquired more clients there.
Twahirwa told the African Report that: “Rwanda and China’s relationship assists us in attaining our dreams. The Chinese market is so different compared to the other markets I have been into as it accepts varieties of agricultural produces without major challenges.”
President Xi Jinping sealed the relationship between both countries after he visited Rwanda in 2018. Last September, Twahirwa signed a life-changing deal of $100 million with China’s Chinese GK International Enterprises to supply 50,000ton of chili yearly for five years. The agreement allowed him to expand his farmland from 6ha to 160ha employing more people and invest in enhanced seeds and fertilizers.
The farmer says, “We are now waiting for both governments to sign a protocol that will enable us to export dry chili to China. Once this promise is secured it will improve our business tremendously.”
For all the coffee in China
Also, Rwandan coffee farmers have gotten access to China, which was influenced by Jack Ma, China’s richest man, and founder of Alibaba Group. In 2017, Ma visited Kigali twice and met President Paul Kagame to improve the opportunities of accessing the Chinese market for Rwandan entrepreneurs. One of the agreements signed was to make Rwanda the first African country to join Alibaba’s Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP).
Manager of West Hills Coffee, Simeon Ngendahayo, says “I have sold coffee to China through the electronic platform five times now and it all gets finished and I got paid instantly.”
‘“At first, it wasn’t easy to sell coffee in China. The market seemed quite closed to our products, so I was focusing on European and some Asian markets. This all changed when Rwanda joined the eWTP. The onus is now on us to ensure a steady supply and quality.”
In May, the Kigali government said that 1.5tn of Rwandan coffee beans sold out “in seconds” on the eWTP. The Private Sector Federation (PSF) now regularly conducts training sessions for exporters to ensure they make products that meet Chinese standards.
On the other hand, as the ties between both countries improve, Rwanda also buys more Chinese products. Rwanda’s importation of Chinese goods shoots from $157million in 2017 to $628million in 2019.
