For years, smallholder refugee farmers and local community members in eastern Rwanda produced quality crops without knowing who would buy them.
After investing time, labour, and scarce resources into cultivating chili peppers and other horticultural crops, farmers often found themselves waiting for buyers to arrive at their farms or paying for transport to distant markets. Sometimes, no buyer came at all.
Post-harvest loss for farmers
Majyambere Methusela Abdallah, a 46-year-old refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, has lived in Rwanda since 2007. He farms chili pepper, French beans, eggplant, carrots, cucumbers, avocados, etc.
In 2025, Abdallah became a founding member of KAIGA 8 cooperative, a horticulture cooperative comprising 115 refugee and local community farmers in Gatsibo District. The cooperative cultivates a range of horticultural products, including chili peppers, French beans, avocados, cucumbers, carrots, and eggplants, on a portion of its 45 hectares of land.
However, selling farm produce was a challenge. ‘To sell our produce, we either rent trucks to take our produce to the buyers or wait for buyers at the farm. The buyers’ inconsistency led the farmers to post-harvest losses and financial losses,’ said Abdallah.
Unstable markets and uncertain buyers led to losses and unexpected debts. The few farmers who reinvested struggled to do it.
‘In one of the 2025 seasons, we cultivated chili peppers and French beans but suffered significant post-harvest and financial losses because there were no buyers,’ said Laurent Majyambere, a host community member and the leader of the KAIGA 8 cooperative.
To mitigate this challenge, the VIBE Programme provided training on agricultural value chains, agribusiness, and market access, while facilitating business-to-business matchmaking opportunities between producers and buyers.
Connection to aggregators
Through this process, ITC connected KAIGA 8 Cooperative with RAI GREEN STALKS Ltd, a Rwandan exporter supplying fresh chilli peppers to international markets.
In May 2026, RAI GREEN STALKS Ltd signed a one-year renewable contract with the KAIGA 8 cooperative for direct uptake at farmgate of chili peppers after harvesting.
With the contract in place, the farmers are not worried about looking for buyers, transporting their produce to the markets or post-harvest losses. The agreement guarantees a reliable and stable market for their chilies and gives them confidence that their produce will be purchased at agreed terms. This helps them plan production, invest in farming activities, and improve their household income.
According to Abdallah, ‘signing the agreement will give farmers hope again, which will help increase farmers’ livelihood.’
Alongside a stable and regular income, the farmers are only concerned about producing quality chili peppers. “Having a reliable buyer with a signed contract gives us the confidence to keep farming professionally and produce high-quality crops that meet standards” says Laurent.
Why the partnership matters
Allen Umulisa, Managing Director of RAI GREEN STALKS Ltd, explained that the partnership will benefit both the buyers and farmers.
‘When farmers know that there is a reliable buyer for their produce, they become more motivated to increase production and focus on quality improvement,’ she said. ‘It gives them confidence to invest more time and effort into their farming activities because they are assured of a market for their harvest.’
For the company, the agreement also ensures a consistent supply of quality produce needed to satisfy international buyers.
‘This type of fixed contract agreement creates trust, stability, and security for both sides,’ she added.
Apart from the immediate uptake of chilies, the aggregator also supports the refugee and host community farmers with quality seeds, training and guidance on good agricultural practices.
According to Francois Regis, VIBE Programme, Field Coordinator for Gatsibo, ‘the partnership directly fulfills the VIBE Programme objectives by building a structure between refugee-led agricultural MSMEs and wider market connections.’
The cooperative member also hopes to secure more buyers so they can farm on the entire 45 hectares of land and have a market for all of it.
