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Banana farmers’ woes could soon end following the adjustment and operationalization of Rwf1.2 billion  Rwamagana Banana Community Processing Centre.

Construction works for the factory started 2016 in Mwulire sector of Rwamagana district but had stalled for years.

According to the Auditor General’s 2018/2019 report, the Center was fully constructed and equipped in January 2019 but by the time of audit in January 2020, after one year of preparatory activities for operation, it was not yet put into the intended use.

By the time it started to produce in 2020, the equipment failed to produce quality beverages due to limited skills of workers.

"We didn’t buy any other machinery. We have only adjusted the existing machinery and equipped workers with advanced technical skills needed in the production chain. In the beginning of April this year, we started production of two beverage products certified with S-Mark and are on the market,” Valens Bazirihe, The factory’s Managing Director told Doing Business.

The two products include ‘Inkangaza’, banana beer produced from banana, sorghum and honey and the other is ‘Ryongo Banana beer’ produced from banana, sorghum, water and sugar, he explained.

Banana farmers’ woes could end soon following the adjustment and operationalisation of Rwf1.2 billion  Rwamagana Banana Community Processing Centre. Photos: Courtesy.

The factory which is currently employing 17 permanent workforce and between 20 and 30 casual laborers has capacity to produce 28,000 litres per day, he said.

"This means 3,500 crates per day. But currently we are producing 800 crates per day and not even every day. We are still operating below production capacity as we are still at the beginning. As we expand the market, increase facilities and experience the demand, production capacity will be maximized,” he said.

Bazirihe said that once production capacity is maximized, the factory will be able to buy at least 65 tonnes of banana per day.

Rwamagana Banana Wine Company Ltd has two products certified with S-Mark namely Ryongo Banana wine and Inkangaza y’i Buganza already on the market for consumers.

"We want to work with different farmers from the whole Eastern Province to get raw materials and we will be signed supplying contracts with them,” he said.

He added that they are also devising strategies that will help to meet agricultural officers and agronomists as well as farmers in the districts to inform them about the factory raw material demand size and how farmers can assure the supply.

The Managing Director added that the factory plans to produce more products including pure juice from banana, banana energy drink, banana liquor, banana wine and Champagne.

Farmers upbeat

Bonaventure Linganwa , a model  farmer in the Mwulire Sector growing bananas on 2.5 hectares, said that the factory will add value to their produce.

"The factory employees have recently visited a banana farming project. The operationalization of the factory is good news for banana farmers. We will be able to access markets nearby. I really need a stable market as I have over 3,000 banana trees,” he said.

Bazirihe said that once production capacity is maximised, the factory will be able to buy at least 65 tonnes of banana per day. 

He said that before Covid-19, he used to supply banana produce to Kayonza District but the supply has been disrupted by the pandemic.

"Because the factory in Kayonza is not working accordingly due to Covid-19 pandemic, I supply them sometimes. I hope that Rwamagana factory will be a market close to my farming project. It reduces the transport cost that I have been incurring while supplying my harvest to Kayonza and elsewhere,” he added.

David Nsengiyumva, the President of Rwamagana Agro-business Cooperative said that the factory will help farmers to get a ‘stable market’.

"I grow bananas on two hectares. But bananas that are used to produce beer are bought at lower prices due to lack of a stable market. For instance, a banana bundle with between 30 Kilogrammes and 50 Kilogrammes is sold at between Rwf1,500 and Rwf3,000 while a bundle of cooking bananas goes for over Rwf7,000. It is a loss to farmers. We hope that the factory will add value to our produce and avoid giveaway prices,” he said.

Bananas are a traditional and priority crop for food security in Rwanda grown by many but there is no enough value addition to mitigate post-harvest losses.

Overall, the banana sub-sector covers about 23 per cent of the entire cultivated land in Rwanda, estimated at 900,000 hectares.

Rwanda produced over 759,690 tonnes of cooking bananas in 2018 from over 724,540 tonnes in 2017.

Cooking banana accounts for over 40 per cent of banana plantation in Rwanda while the rest is for beverages.

However, farmers have been incurring post-harvest food losses due to lack of post-harvest handling technologies.

According to the fourth Strategic Plan for Agriculture Transformation (PSTA 4), Rwanda seeks to reduce post-harvest losses for Banana for from 15 percent in 2016 to 9 percent in 2024.

Through the government initiative ‘ Uruganda Iwacu’ to set up community processing centres, post-harvest losses are expected to be reduced.