Rwanda had a good harvest for both grains and cereals last season, which attracted huge demand from regional buyers. This has benefitted farmers in terms of better revenues earned, but has also created big grain shortages on the local market and pushed up prices of beans and maize, according to the Rwanda Grains and Cereals Corporation.
Wenslars Bahati, the Rwanda Grains and Cereals Corporation (RGCC) operations manager, told Business Times that traders from the region were even buying grain with high moisture content to dry and clean it themselves, while local buyers waited until the produce was fully dry.
“Traders from Uganda and Tanzania were buying grain that had 21-25 per cent moisture content because they have good post-harvest handling facilities and skills, but for us we had to wait until the moisture content was 16 per cent. This put us at a disadvantage leaving us to fight for the little produce left on the market,” he said in an interview.
