Project rationale, Goal, specific objectives, strategies, implementation policy

Project implementation policy

Specific arrangements for actual implementation will be approved for funding only if they comply with the following project strategic and implementation principles.

Coffee. In the coffee sub-sector:

• to support the rehabilitation, rejuvenation, and expansion of poor smallholder coffee plots in selected areas suitable for top quality coffee production, with a view of enabling participating farmers to achieve the standard of quality production that would secure adequate remuneration for their crops;
• to promote and train existing and newly established coffee growers primary cooperatives/societies so that they are enabled to fully control the processing and marketing phases in due course;
• to introduce a credit scheme, guaranteed by the supply of coffee cherries, that would enable the members of the primary societies to purchase inputs and other means of production and livelihood;
• to support the establishment of modern mechanical de-pulping, washing and hulling units of a size that can be ultimately owned and managed by local farmers, the membership of the majority of such societies qualifying as IFAD target group;
• to introduce mechanisms that will ensure the gradual acquisition of full ownership of the processing and marketing facilities by the primary cooperative societies of poor planters;
• to fund such facilities in accordance with sound commercial and development finance practices,
• to provide temporary general management services for the coffee processing and marketing enterprises, and management training for the primary cooperative societies leaders that would take over control of the enterprises in due course;
• to mobilize the services of TWIN to provide to the cooperatives: technical advice on crop production and temporary overall management of processing and marketing cooperative enterprises, market information, product control and certification, promotion of the image of Rwanda quality coffee abroad, and access to Fair Trade organizations and to commercial enterprises connected with the network, with a view to supporting the sale of the coffee at the best price for quality, and to enter the specialty and eventually the organic coffee markets; and
• to support agronomic research on technologies that would eliminate quality imperfections in the Rwanda coffee crop, and to reduce or eliminate the use of chemical inputs for pest and disease control in coffee growing, with a view to introducing organic coffee production to the greatest extent possible.

Tea. In the tea sub-sector:

• to support the privatization of the OCIR-Thé estate at Nshili by distributing the plantation to poor smallholders resident in the surrounding area, securing that between one third and one half of the beneficiaries of the distribution are women head of HH, and introducing mechanisms that would ensure that the tea holding of each beneficiary would neither change the nature of the exploitation, nor be transferred to other subjects not qualifying as IFAD target group;
• to organize the beneficiaries of the land distribution into smallholder primary cooperatives/societies, and to train them to properly handle the tea crop;
• to introduce a credit scheme, guaranteed by the supply of green leaves, that would enable the members of the primary societies to purchase inputs, and other means of production and livelihood;
• to establish a new Tea Company in the private sector that would build a factory at Nshili to process the green leaves of the privatized OCIR-Thé plantation, funding the new company under arrangements that would enable the primary societies of beneficiaries of the distribution of the OCIR the estate to gradually acquire actual full control of the tea processing and marketing operations, securing effective private sector oriented management of the new company;
• to mobilize the services of TWIN to provide technical advise, market information, produce control and certification, and access of Fair Trade organizations to trading companies connected with the FT network, with a view to supporting the sale of Rwanda tea at the best price for quality, and to enter the specialty market;
• to provide organization and training support to the primary societies/cooperatives to enable their leaders to manage the business, the property of which would be gradually acquired; and
• to support new smallholder tea planting and eventually organic tea production in the Mushubi area.

New cash and export crops. In the new cash and export crops:

• to provide market research and marketing assistance ensuring easy access of private individuals, SMEs and poor farmer associations to these services;
• to support the formation and training of spontaneous farmers’ asosciations wishing to develop new cash and export crops, responding to initiatives of private sector enterprises, or wishing to start independent activities of their own;
• to support agricultural research require to solve problems of farmers investing in new cash crop production;
• to support extension activities by private enterprises that process and/or market new cash and export crops, with a view to enhancing poor farmers participation;
• to support investment project preparation and information exchange by SMEs and farmer association; and,
• to provide funds for extending credit to the SMEs and farmer associations on condition that their projects meet certain criteria regarding the creation of employment and income generation for IFAD target group, and the basic hygienic and safety production and environment protection standards that are required to sell in the international market.