Tea

Tea is one of Rwanda's main export products, generating 90 million dollars in export revenue in 2020-2021. Tea was introduced to Rwanda in the 1950s. Currently, there are over 28,000 hectares planted with tea bushes in the Northern, Western, and Southern provinces on well-drained hillsides and marshes at high altitudes between 1,550 m and 2,500 m. There are 18 operational private tea factories, 2 ongoing tea projects, and over 43,000 tea producers organized into 21 cooperatives and 2 producer service companies. Production has steadily increased over the years, rising from 5,910 tons of black tea in 1980 to 12,855 tons in 1990. In 1994, during the genocide, tea plantations and factories were abandoned, and tea production fell to 4,136 tons of black tea.