Component Objectives, Strategy, Target Population, Gender & Environmental Issues

Strategy

The strategy underlying the reformulated tea component aims at providing smallholders with the possibility of an effective participation in the development of the tea sector in Rwanda through development of new plantations, through the organization of smallholders in a representative national institution and, through financial investments in new and/or to-be-privatized tea processing plants.

Since land allocation as projected in the PDCRE Appraisal report has been drastically modified (smallholders will only receive 265 ha from the existing OCIR-Thé concession and develop 200 ha of new tea plantations within the concession instead of receiving and developing 1,200 ha from that same concession) and, with a view to maintain the same number of beneficiaries (4,800 households) and the same level of income per household as budgeted in the PDCRE Appraisal report, the project will mainly focus on the development of smallholders’ home gardens (735 ha). For each smallholder, the revenues generated by his/her home garden will complement the revenues he/she will earn from rehabilitated and new developed plantations leased out. The project will ensure that each household’s global revenue from plantations is at least equal to the revenue he/she would have earned should he/she have received a 0.25 ha tea plot as indicated in the initial tea component.

For component targeted households, income may derive from different activities: (a) income from tea production on home gardens, (b) income from tea production on leased out plantations, (c) wages as a daily worker in leased out land, woodlots or somebody’s else home garden, (d) wages as daily worker in PI’s industrial bloc and, (e) monthly salary as unqualified staff at the NTF. Poorest of the poor households i.e. landless households or women headed households will have priority over other households for a job at the NTF or as daily worker. This income will complement the income that, in any case, these poorest households will receive from leased out plantations production sold to the NTF (see below).

Due to the fact that 700 ha have been allocated to the PI as industrial bloc for the NTF, the option of selling the remaining land available from the OCIR-Thé concession (i.e. 265 ha of rehabilitated land and 200 ha of newly developed land) to smallholders has been ruled out as the size of each smallholders’ tea plot would not have been viable (0.097 ha). Thereby, the project will support a leasing agreement for those 465 ha rehabilitated and developed to be signed between smallholders’ associations and the GoR. The latter has already accepted the following terms and conditions: (a) duration of no less than 50 years and, (b) symbolic price or even free of charge leasing. This arrangement also meets the smallholders’ preference to collectively cultivate these lands.

Basic figures of the tea industry show that out of 12,759 ha of tea plantation, 6,605 ha are cultivated by smallholders (52%)^[1]and that out of the 30,334 households cultivating tea as their main livelihood only 10% are members of cooperatives while 90% remain as individual tea smallholders. Since the national strength of smallholders is more than 27,000, the development of a strong National Institution will be further explored by the project based on the experiences of the KTDA (Kenya) and TSHDA (Sri Lanka). The project will support the implementation of relevant and efficient institutions representing smallholders at local, provincial and national level enabling them to become important partners in the tea sector.

^[1]Industrial blocks represent 30%; cooperatives 15% and private growers 3%.