This sector is a major source of employment and income, thus providing access to food and other necessities to large groups of the population.

Rwanda has suitable agro-climatic conditions that allow the production of a broad range of diverse agricultural commodities suitable for processing.

Market access is facilitated by the existence of free trade areas and agreements at the regional and continental level as well as other parts of the world.

The sector has seen the adoption of improved and validated food processing technologies, enforcement of good quality standards, hygiene and regulatory instruments which have assisted local agro-processing industries to compete favourably in the international market place.

The agro-processing sector consists of processing locally available raw materials to produce products such as wine, beer, soft drinks, flour, rice, cheese, honey, cooking oil among others.
There is an increasing diversification to new innovative products such as Stevia and essential oils which have increased the agro-processing export base.

Currently, most of the agro-processed products are mainly exported to Rwanda’s neighbouring countries which include: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Uganda and Tanzania as well as other international destinations such as United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Europe.

Rwanda is among the largest Pyrethrum exporters globally; the pyrethrum flower is used worldwide to produce a natural insecticide that controls pests and plant diseases.