Rwanda and Qatar Airways collaborate to increase air cargo for agricultural exports

Rwanda is working with Qatar Airways Cargo to increase the country’s air freight capacity and worldwide market reach in an attempt to overcome challenges faced by agricultural exporters.

The development attempts to solve problems that are mostly faced by those who produce perishable horticulture items that must be delivered promptly.

On October 2, Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources Mark Cyubahiro Bagabe and RwandAir CEO Yvonne Makolo met with Qatar Airways Chief Cargo Officer Mark Drusch and his colleagues to explore specific measures to expand Rwanda’s aviation cargo capacity.

Rwanda’s airline, RwandAir, has partnered with Qatar Airways Cargo, one of the largest air cargo carriers globally, to provide Rwanda with rapid access to a high capacity, global logistics network and increased freight frequency, Bagabe told The New Times.

“The partnership is a direct response to the persistent concerns of Rwandan agricultural exporters regarding limited cargo space, high freight costs, and delays in reaching key international markets in the Middle East, the UK, Europe, and the Far East,” he said.

By working with Qatar Airways Cargo, Rwanda might benefit from Doha’s position as a global transhipment hub, which enables more frequent and larger cargo flights to and from Kigali. This will significantly expand the available tonnage capacity, especially for exporters with higher quantities,” he said.

He claimed that because of Qatar’s extensive freighter and belly-holder network, Rwandan goods may still reach many destinations even if RwandAir doesn’t fly directly there.

“Rwandan farmers and exporters possess the ability and desire to provide the world with high-quality produce.” Therefore, we consider this partnership as a way to boost our agri-export sector’s growth,” he said.

The national carrier claims that RwandAir presently operates a single cargo plane with a 23-ton capacity dedicated to air freight.

Exporters describe the partnership as groundbreaking.

In an interview with The New Times, Robert Rukundo, the chairman of the Rwandan Horticulture Exporters’ Association, hailed the move as a long-overdue solution to the nation’s severe and persistent air freight limitations.

It puts us in a position to function as a national cargo center, which we value, he added. “We think that the problem will be fixed with Qatar’s air freight base, which will create additional opportunities for regional exporters, including Rwandan exporters.”

“Exporters frequently find themselves unable to ship their full capacity,” he said. For example, an exporter who needs 10 tonnes of cargo capacity may only be given two tonnes per flight during times of high passenger traffic when freight on passenger planes is limited.

Thanks to Qatar’s freighters, we expect exporters to be able to transfer full sums without any restrictions. “It will stimulate investment and boost export earnings,” he stated.

Opening up uncharted markets

According to Rukundo, Rwanda’s current [cargo] routes are mostly limited to the UK, France, Bussels, and Dubai. Qatar Airways offers access to a variety of markets through its operations in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

He added that if the agreement is operationalized, increasing markets are implied. “But Qatar opens up to a bigger, wider market of over, I think, close to 100+ destinations,” he said.

Even though cargo prices have lately increased slightly, Rukundo claims that RwandAir’s prices are remain competitive when compared to other carriers like Turkish carriers and KLM, which are perceived as being more expensive.

Even though Ethiopian Airline’s prices are almost the same as RwandAir’s, Ethiopian Airline asserts that Rwandan exporters favor the national airline since it connects to destinations via direct flights, which is more convenient.

Rwanda’s fifth Strategic Plan for Agriculture Transformation (PSTA 5), which runs from 2024 to 2029, set targets to increase agricultural export revenues from $839 million in 2023–2024 to over $1.5 billion by 2028–2029, or a 78.7% increase.

Conventional exports like tea and coffee will continue to account for the majority of Rwanda’s agricultural export revenue, but non-traditional products like avocado and chile are growing faster and offer substantial export diversification potential.

Non-traditional exports are crops that have recently been introduced to international markets after being grown primarily for domestic use.

According to the PSTA 5 plan, exports of avocados are expected to more than double from $6.3 million to $12.9 million, while exports of chilies are expected to increase eightfold from $6 million in 2023–2024 to $48 million by 2029.

It is anticipated that coffee exports would rise from $78.7 million to $115.5 million and tea exports will rise from $107.7 million to $164.4 million during the same time period.

PSTA 5 aims to expand the production zones for products like passion fruit, avocado, French beans, and chile, with a focus on protected agriculture, traceability, food safety, and post-harvest infrastructure.

These new horticultural value chains are crucial to Rwanda’s export diversification strategy and have shown considerable market potential.