Introduction

Public and Private Sector Organizations Involved

The most relevant public and private organizations directly or indirectly involved in the tea sector comprise of the following:

(a) Public Organizations

• Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) responsible for agricultural development policy and services. Decentralized units are established at Provincial and district level. MINAGRI sets the general policy for the development of all sub-sectors in agriculture. However, with regard to the traditional export crops, it operates through the national agency specifically responsible for tea: OCIR-Thé;
• Ministry of Economy and Finance (MINECOFIN) and specially (a) the Privatization Secretariat in charge of turning over the 8 tea factories still managed by OCIR-Thé to private sector investors and, (b) CEPEX, a unit responsible for coordinating the different projects that operate in the country. CEPEX performs a very useful function, facilitating the implementation of development projects, particularly in the field of planning and budgeting and streamlining the relationships between the line ministries, the project coordination units and MINECOFIN;
• Ministry of Land, Environment, Forestry, Water and Mines (MINITERRE) is responsible for the conservation of the natural environment of Rwanda, for land allocation in resettlement areas, and for formulating proposals for land tenure policies and legislation. As previously mentioned, the MINITERRE is finalizing a Land Law that is expected to be enacted in 2006;
• Ministry of Commerce (MINICOM) sets the policy framework and oversees the smooth functioning and development of the domestic and international market of the country. The Office national de normalisation (ONN), set up in the Ministry, is mandated to define the rules governing production and marketing of goods in the domestic and international markets. Within the Ministry, a special unit funded by UNDP is responsible for market research and for designing promotional policies and measures for traditional export crops;
• Institut des Sciences Agraires du Rwanda (ISAR) is the main organization responsible for agricultural research. Heavily affected by the war, during which many-trained staff was lost, it is still in the process of reconstructing its capacity. Currently ISAR appears overcharged with responsibilities, as a result of the heavy demand from projects funded by many donors, including IFAD;
• OCIR-Thé was originally established to provide technical extension services, to control production, processing and marketing of the tea. Under the liberalization and privatization reform, it is expected to divest of its production and marketing activities. OCIR-Thé is the major industrial concern of the country, owns several large-scale tea estates and 8 tea factories, and plays a dominating role in the sub-sector. The GoR policy envisages that after privatization, OCIR-Thé will continue to play a central role in technology generation and transfer, promoting and monitoring development, formulating and enforcing a regulatory framework for the private processing industries and marketing organizations. OCIR-Thé has a pool of highly trained and experienced technical and managerial staff with expertise in growing, processing and providing extension services to growers. These staff represents precious human capital upon which to build further development of the sub-sectors.

(b) Private Organizations

• Farmers’ associations and cooperatives. There are some large cooperatives and associations of tea growers. In terms of efficiency and capacity, the situation is naturally highly diversified. Many groups, associations, and formal cooperatives are confronted with serious operation and management problems and need considerable support for institutional strengthening and training. FERWATHE (Federation of Rwandan Tea growers) has supported restructuring and capacity building of several cooperatives. However, the role of smallholders within FERWATHE is not proportional to the importance of smallholders tea growers in the tea sector;
• National NGOs. Most of these NGOs have substantial experience in working with rural people on social development and agricultural production. Some are highly specialized, for example: ARAMET specializes on aménagement du territoire, ARD specializes in agricultural development and multiplication of planting material of improved varieties, DUTERIMBERE specializes in microfinance and rural institutions, INADES-RWANDA specializes in cooperative formation and training, IWACU on community development, participatory approach, and training;
• TWIN. The TWIN group is one of the Fair Trade International Organizations Network partners. TWIN is mostly responsible for work with poor primary producer cooperatives. TWIN skills are in the mobilization, training, and organization of farmers associations, and in providing quality control, market information; management assistance and marketing assistance. TWIN provides the link between producers and consumers and ensures that farmers understand and apply the cropping and crop-processing practices required to meet the standards that would command the highest prices in the international markets. The policy of the group is to develop, on behalf of cooperatives of poor producers, specific market niches for labeled products that can sell at very attractive prices.