Rwanda starts farming grapes, wine processing

Rwanda is set to start growing grapes and producing wines after signing a lucrative deal with a Germany state – Rhineland Palatinate three years ago.

Rwanda and the Rhineland-Palatinate state in 2019 committed to the promotion of agriculture in technology-driven farming, and sustainable winegrowing through the cultivation and harvesting of grapes.

According to the agreement, Germany is committed to help Rwanda in setting up state-of-the-art technology, research and expertise for the East African country to start growing grapes used to brew red wine, white wine, and rosé wines for both the local and global markets.

 Germany is ranked 10^th among the top 15 global wine producing countries while Italy, France and Spain retain the top three positions.

The Germany/Rwanda partnership aims to identify suitable geographical regions and sites for grapevine cultivation on the basis, among other things, of soil information, topographic profile as well as suitable grape varieties.

“We are promoting grapes, in collaboration with Germany. Wine growing is another opportunity we are exploring for Rwanda. Current activities are to identify local germplasm in the country (types of varieties), clean them and set up plans for local multiplication, but also introducing new and highly performing varieties from other places,” Charles Bucagu, the deputy director-general for agriculture development at the Rwanda Agricultural and Animal Resources Development Board said.

The government official said there are two grape varieties to be tested for grape farming that were imported from Germany.

“We have two varieties introduced from Germany that are being tested for adaptability at Mulindi Horticulture Centre. Depending on the results of the trials, dissemination will follow. If they do not adapt, we will look for others,” he said.

In Huye district where the growing of grapes and processing will take place, Bucagu said, the Germany investors are establishing a processing plant that will produce the wine.

Théogène Ntampaka, a farmer from Huye district, grows and harvests three tonnes of grapes on about one hectare. There are two harvesting seasons in a year.

“I started with 1 000 free grape seedlings,” he said, noting that some grape varieties will help to produce white grape wine and others serve as fruits.

According to the United Nations database on international trade, in 2021, Rwanda imported wine and grape must from South Africa at a cost of US$1.39 million.