Farmers and members of the Twisungane VSLA group cultivate sweet potatoes at Pfunda Tea Estate, Rubavu, Rwanda. However, due to the recent flooding, their crops have been affected. Image: Documenting Afrika/ETP

Tea fields at Pfunda Tea Estate, Rubavu, Rwanda. Image: Documenting Africa/ETP

Improving Livelihoods – Strategic Alliance

Supporting smallholder farmers and estate workers in the tea value chains of Rwanda and Malawi.

A chance to strengthen communities through skills in business and savings

Tea farmers and workers in Malawi and Rwanda experience considerable financial hardships, often struggling to make ends meet.

The Strategic Alliance – a collaboration between ETP, GIZ, and ETP members – sought to change this through sustainable, community-level solutions.

The initiative was successful by focusing on three training approaches – Farmer Field Schools, Farmer Business Schools, and Village Savings and Loans Associations – that gave participants valuable new life skills.

2015–2022
Status: Completed

Project

Economics

Environment

Climate resilient agriculture

Decent livelihoods

Malawi

Rwanda

Project overview

Using Farmer Field Schools, Farmer Business Schools and Village Savings and Loan Associations to help Malawi and Rwanda’s tea sectors flourish.

Project partners

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), JDE, Lavazza Professional, Marks & Spencer, Ostfriesische Tee Gesellschaft GmbH & Co. KG, Tata Consumer Products Ltd., and Taylors of Harrogate

The initiative aimed for:

A 15% income increase from tea in real terms for 8,000 smallholder farmers (4,500 in Rwanda and 3,500 in Malawi), with at least 30% being women.
Improvement in wages and benefits for workers.
Improvements in smallholder farming practices, yields, quality, income, and income diversification.

The programme also aimed to contribute to the national Malawi Tea 2020 outcomes. These focused on improving the competitiveness and profitability of the Malawian tea industry, in ways that could sustainably improve livelihoods for farmers, workers, and their families.

The Strategic Alliance made use of three main interventions:

Farmer Field Schools shared training in ‘good agricultural practices’ – foundational principles and solutions that help farms increase crop production and quality.
Farmer Business Schools training gave participants knowledge in record keeping, budgeting, expenses, and nutritional benefits of crop varieties, to encourage and inform sustainable business plans.
Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) provided communities with new skills in savings, collaboration, loan management, income generating ideas, and financial literacy.

A meeting of the Twisungane VSLA group at Pfunda Tea Estate, Rubavu, Rwanda. Image: Documenting Afrika/ETP

An independent evaluation determined that the STA had a positive impact across Malawi and Rwanda’s tea sectors.

Specifically, in Malawi, training played an important role in shifting attitudes towards business-oriented farming and diversification – a strong foundation for stable incomes.

Other positive developments included: improved access to financial solutions; women’s community involvement empowerment; improved nutrition; increased capacity for parents to pay for their children’s schooling; improved housing; purchasing of livestock; and more.

Key achievements

8,000

smallholder farmers reached directly

32,000

tea workers reached directly

200,000

household members reached indirectly

76%

increase in monthly tea production for participating farmers in Rwanda