The Wood Foundation Africa manages four smallholder tea greenfield sites in Rwanda and Tanzania, representing a Foreign Direct Investment value of more than $150m in rural areas with limited alternative economic activity.
De-risking investments through Smallholder Services Development Companies
The Wood Foundation Africa has established Smallholder Service Companies at each greenfield site in partnership with the farmers of each targeted catchment. The service companies support farmers to plant out tea professionally and to scale; offer agronomic advice and training through Farmer Field Schools; as well as provide inputs such as seedlings and fertiliser on credit.
Finance is provided for land preparation through long-term, patient capital at no interest which will be recovered once the tea comes into bearing. Once bushes mature, the service companies offer production logistics such as collection, weighing, transport, and payment for the farmer, and serve as the exclusive supplier of greenleaf to the partner factory.
Tea Greenfields in Numbers
13,000 Ha
Hectares of smallholder tea greenfields to be developed
26,000
Smallholder farmers to be empowered
Njombe, Tanzania
Launched in 2014, the ‘Njombe Vision’ is at the centre of Tanzania’s tea industry and aims to support 3,000 farmers to plant 2,500 hectares of smallholder tea in Njombe.
Unilever has constructed the state-of-the-art Kabambe factory which is majority smallholder-supplied and manufactures quality tea that is already fetching premium prices.
Njombe Outgrowers Services Company (NOSC) is jointly owned by farmers who are planting 250 hectares of new tea per annum. It is expected that the site will be fully planted by 2023, providing 8,000 direct jobs.
More than 80% of the tea is grown in contiguous units or blocks, allowing for efficiencies such as mechanised harvesting and block irrigation.
This investment is being jointly delivered with the support of the Gatsby Foundation, FCDO, and Unilever.
Nyaruguru North, Rwanda
The Nyaruguru greenfield was identified in 2017 as the top Foreign Direct Investment by the Government of Rwanda.
Through the Services Company Outgrowers Nyaruguru North (SCON (N)) this investment is supporting more than 6,000 farmers to plant 3,400 hectares of smallholder tea.
Unliever is developing an 800 hectare core estate and a new factory in Nyaruguru which will be majority smallholder supplied. Gatsby Foundation and FCDO are also partner investors in the site.
Nyaruguru North, Rwanda
The Nyaruguru greenfield has been identified as a top source of Foreign Direct Investment by the Government of Rwanda.
Through the Services Company Outgrowers Nyaruguru North (SCON (N)) this investment is supporting more than 6,000 farmers to plant 3,400 hectares of smallholder tea.
Unliever is constructing a factory which will be majority smallholder supplied. Gatsby Foundation and FCDO are also partner investors in the site.
Nyaruguru South, Rwanda
This is The Wood Foundation Africa’s newest greenfield which commenced in December 2020 in partnership with Unilever and the Government of Rwanda, and is an expansion of the original Nyaruguru greenfield development.
Through the Services Company Outgrowers Nyaruguru South (SCON (S)) this investment will support more than 6,000 farmers to plant 3,000 hectares of smallholder tea. To meet this increased production, Unilever will construct an additional smallholder supplied tea factory in Nyaruguru.
Rugabano, Rwanda
The Rugabano Greenfield Development includes the establishment of a new majority smallholder-supplied tea factory, a 400 hectare core estate and 4,000 hectares of new smallholder tea, planted by more than 10,000 smallholder farmers through the Rugabano Outgrowers Services Company (ROS).
ROS is the exclusive supplier of greenleaf to the Rugabano Tea Company factory, owned by the Silverback Tea Company which is a joint venture between The Wood Foundation Africa and Luxmi Tea Company. The factory was launched in 2019 and is already producing some of the highest-quality teas in Rwanda.
Rugabano, Rwanda
A majority smallholder-supplied factory was launched in 2019 and is already producing some of the highest-quality teas in Rwanda.
Rugabano Outgrowers Services Company (ROS) is supporting more than 10,000 smallholder farmers to plant 4,000 hectares of tea.
ROS is the exclusive supplier of greenleaf to the Rugabano Tea Company factory, owned by the Silverback Tea Company which is a joint venture between The Wood Foundation Africa and Luxmi Tea Company.
Tea Greenfields in Numbers
13,000 Ha
Hectares of smallholder tea greenfields to be developed
26,000
Smallholder farmers to be empowered