COOPTHE MULINDI is a tea-growing cooperative located and operating at Mulindi, in Gicumbi district of Northern Province. The cooperative was formed in 1962 and was re-registered by the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) in 2016. It has 1,000 members including 258 women and 48 youths. COOPTHE Mulindi operates in 6 administrative sectors (KANIGA, MUKARANGE, SHANGASHA, BYUMBA, MANYAGIRO, and CYUMBA) with a total area of 885.79 ha (including 695 ha under tea plantation and 190.8 ha which is not planted) and 8.5 ha of forest. Unlike other tea cooperatives where each member owns an individual tea plot, all the 999 members jointly own the 634 ha of tea plantation of COOPTHE MULINDI, each owning 1 share currently valued at FRW 4,520,980. COOPTHE Mulindi plans to increase tea productivity from 8.9 Tons/Ha in 2022 to 9.77 Tons by 2028.

The 682.4 ha plantation is located in the marshland while 12.6 ha are new farms planted on the hillside. Almost every year, the cooperative suffers the loss of tea farms due to heavy rains and flooding in the marshlands. As part of the mitigating strategies, the Management of COOPTHE Mulindi has started acquiring tea farms on the hillside. 

COOPTHE Mulindi and the sister cooperative, COOTHEVM sell the green tea leaves to the nearby Mulindi Factory Company which is jointly owned by the two tea cooperatives. MFC is the sole buyer of tea leaves from COOPTHE and COOTHEVEM whereby the former supplies 30% compared to 60% of the latter. The balance of 10% is from third-party individual suppliers.

The quality of Mulindi’s green tea leaves is one of the lowest in Rwanda at 40%, mainly due to floods, or drought. Additionally, it has also been established through experience that tea grown on hillsides produced higher quality leaves than the one grown in marshlands. To improve quantity and quality to 65% by 2028, COOPTHE Mulindi and the Mulindi Factory Company (MFC) entered into an MoU in 2023 for the latter to take over Management of the tea plantation. Under the said MoU, among others, all farm activities (land preparation, clearing drainage system, planting, crop management, fertilization, pruning, and harvesting) are implemented by MFC, and the cost of activities and inputs are passed on to COOPTHE Mulindi. Additionally, COOPTHE Mulindi handed over the management of field staff, farm equipment, and inputs to MFC. Under the MoU, COOPTHE Mulindi increased its investment in the nearby Mulindi Factory Company in which it now owns 50% of the shares. The other 50% of shares are owned by another tea cooperative in the area by the name of COOTHEVM and both cooperatives have representatives sitting 

Over the years, COOPTHE Mulindi made remarkable achievements. Most notable among the achievements is the increase of shareholding in the Mulindi Tea Factory (MFC) from 35% to 50%; The tea cooperative managed to extend the tea plantation by 12.6 Ha on the hillside; and increased tea production from 4.8 Tons in 2020 to 5.57 Tons in 2022. Although COOPTHE Mulindi suffered a drop in production to 4.5 Tons in 2023, 2024 looks more promising having recorded 2.8 Tons worth FRW 1,028,219,022 by the end of June 2024. The tea cooperative managed to expand the list of its partners as detailed in section 1.3 below.

COOPTHE Mulindi is managed and governed in accordance with the cooperative law in Rwanda. The governance organs of the cooperative are comprised of the following: The General Assembly is the supreme organ and consists of all registered members. The Board of Directors is the legal representative of the cooperative. It is composed of five (5) members who are duly elected by the General Assembly and approved by the Rwanda Cooperative Agency (RCA); The Supervisory Board is composed of three (3) members duly elected by the General Assembly and approved by RCA; and a Management Team.

The Vision

To become a high-performing, competitive, and leading tea producer and exporter in Rwanda and the region.                

The Mission

1. To improve the socioeconomic status and well-being of members and the surrounding community through increased tea production and other social-impact initiatives.
2. To contribute to national development by aligning its activities with the government’s policies and strategies on agriculture, trade, and environment

The Goal of COOPTHE Mulindi:

1. To promote good governance of the cooperative society by strengthening member participation in activities and decision-making, offering rapid, quality services adapted to the wishes of cooperators and various partners;
2. To contribute to the improvement of tea production in quantity and quality through the valorization of the infrastructures in place in the area of action, the protection of the environment, the intense collaboration with the structures of the local administration and the general population;
3. To strengthen the role of COOPTHE Mulindi in the organization of tea activities, notably through involvement in producer organizations at local, national, and sub-regional levels as well as partnership with various actors and stakeholders in the field of the production, packaging, and marketing of tea.

THE STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

In the context of its vision, mission, and mandate as articulated in the preceding sections, and after the effective scanning of its external and internal environment, COOPTHE Mulindi shall, in the course of the next five (5) years focus on the implementation of priority interventions defined under each of the following strategic objectives:

Overall Objective: The overall objective of COOPTHE is to improve and dignify the livelihoods of its members and the surrounding communities by increasing their incomes and social status through the development and improvement of the production of tea leaves and social inclusion.

Specific Objectives: To achieve the above-stated goal and the cooperative’s mission, COOPTHE will pursue the following specific objectives and strategic actions:

1. To increase production from 5,570,427 kg in 2022 to 7,394,407 Kg in 2028
   1. Increasing area under cultivation  (Ha)
   1. Increasing productivity (Kg/ha)
   1. Optimizing the use of fertilizer (Kg/Ha)
   1. Introducing the use of manure and reducing the quantity of chemical fertilizer (Ha)
   1. Rehabilitating 95 Ha of destroyed tea plantation
   1. Ensure sufficient and timely availability of crones
2. Improve the quality of the green tea leaves from 40% in 2023 to 65% in 2028.
   1. Training of the farmers in pruning, tipping, and harvesting
      1. Proper management of tea farms (crop management, and harvesting) – Ha
      1. Improving transportation of green tea leaves to the MFC

• To enhance the social-economic welfare of members and the community.
  • Increasing the number of social-economic projects with a diary project
    • Facilitate members to pay for “mituelle de sante”
      • Facilitate members to pay for Ejo Heza
      • Increasing access to educational cash advances
      • Increasing access to Isango SACCO loans
      • Increase the member’s take-home

• To improve efficiency and the working relations with the Mulindi Factory Company (MFC)
• Review and renegotiate the MoU with the MFC to a balanced one
• Agree on a Business Plan, Annual Plan, and KPIs with MFC
• Agree on a joint monitoring framework with MFC
• Ensuring Member meetings and engagement
• Constructing an office and a meeting room