Established in 2010, Afrinet Solutions Ltd is a privately-owned company focusing on agribusiness, fund mobilization, business development advisory, and commodity import and export. Afrinet operates in Ngoma District of Rwanda’s Eastern Province with 12 permanent staff members and around 30-50 part-time employees. The company is establishing  their Ngoma Tomato Processing Plant (NTPP) subsidiary aiming to support Rwanda’s agricultural transformation goals, focusing on enhancing the value chain of essential crops (like tomatoes) through efficient processing, sustainable farming practices, and technological advancements. This initiative addresses critical needs in the tomato sector, including reducing post-harvest losses, stabilizing prices by extending product shelf life through processing, and creating new income opportunities for local smallholder farmers. By sourcing tomatoes from over 10,000 farmers organized in a structured out-growers scheme, NTPP will provide a reliable market, which strengthens local agricultural capacity and economic resilience.

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Establishing a Climate Resilient Tomato Out-growers Scheme for Processing

CASA is supporting NTPP to contract 10,000 smallholders, organised into 50 cooperatives across the seven districts of Gatsibo, Kamonyi, Kayonza, Kirehe, Ngoma, Nyagatare and Rwamagana as a strong production base. CASA is also supporting NTPP to build and strengthen its business through development of best practices in tomato processing, modernising operations, improving financial management systems, and a tailored marketing system with a strong distribution network of products that is being developed and enhanced with ICT-driven solutions. Capacity of NTPP extensionists is being built to train the contracted farmers in good agronomic practices/climate smart agriculture and post-harvest handling, and to provide ongoing agronomic and business management advisory support with embedded services including access to insurance and inputs finance to enable smallholder farmers to build their tomato microenterprises as suppliers to NTPP. The project aims to gradually increase purchase of tomato for processing and in time may diversify into other tomato-based products after research and development.

The success of NTPP’s business model will create more and lasting opportunities for tomato producers across the country, increasing individual farmers’ annual incomes by 30% and fostering resilience via adaptive responses to climate change as well as in food and nutrition security with a focus on women’s empowerment. It will also strengthen and stabilize the domestic tomato paste supply chain, reducing the local market price and improving quality. By supporting Afrinet/NTPP, CASA aims to achieve a transformative impact on the tomato value chain while promoting broader economic and social benefits in Rwanda. At a total project cost of £398,970 (CASA contribution of £79,970 in technical assistance), this 12-month project will run from February 2025 through January 2026.

Updated: January 2025