From loss to resilience: Building Rwanda’s cold-chain for inclusive food system transformation

Ahead of the Network’s Accelerating Clean Cold-Chains To Power Rwanda’s Agricultural Transformation Workshop next week (June 11th – 12th), in this two part article we consider three interdependent pillars critical to developing an effective and efficient cold chain system in Rwanda.

Why Rwanda’s food system needs a cold chain strategy?

Agriculture is the backbone of Rwanda’s economy and central to the country’s ambition of becoming an upper-middle-income nation by 2035 and high-income economy by 2050. The sector engages approximately 69% of households, indicating that millions of Rwandans are directly involved in farming activities. In addition, according to the Fifth Strategic Plan for Agricultural Transformation (PSTA 5)^[1], over 400,000 people are employed within Rwanda’s broader agri-food systems. Agriculture contributes 27% of the national GDP and 34% of the export earnings, playing a critical role in poverty reduction, as well as in women’s empowerment and youth employment.

As Rwanda’s population grows (it is projected to increase 80% by 2050), food demand is expected to rise sharply, placing substantial pressure on the national food system. Yet the country faces a significant paradox: at the same time as working to strengthen food security and economic resilience, an estimated 40% of total food production is lost postharvest, representing a missed economic opportunity equivalent to 12% of the national GDP ^[2]. These losses have serious implications, not only in terms of economic inefficiency, but also for national food availability and nutritional outcomes (for example, recent data suggest that the national stunting rate is 32.4% ^[3]).

A substantial portion of food loss in Rwanda is attributed to structural inefficiencies in the country’s agri-food supply chains. Most farmers are smallholders practising subsistence production and the majority of the nation’s produce is sold in informal, open markets where appropriate infrastructure, quality control systems, and storage facilities are limited. One of the most significant gaps lies in the underdevelopment, or lack, of seamless end-to-end cold chains. Although modern, standards-based supply chains that include cold storage and temperature-controlled logistics do exist, they are confined to high-end domestic retailers and export-oriented markets, which represent only a small fraction of national agricultural trade. For example, horticultural commodities (fruits, vegetables, and flowers) contributed just 8.95% of Rwanda’s total agricultural export revenues in the 2023–2024 fiscal year^[4]. Indeed, the challenges facing the country’s horticultural value chain are typical, with postharvest losses attributable to structural weaknesses across the entire fresh produce supply chain^[5]. These include suboptimal harvesting and handling practices, limited access to cold storage, a lack of temperature-controlled/refrigerated transport, and significant price volatility, particularly in informal market systems. However, these challenges highlight not only gaps in infrastructure, but also a more fundamental systemic issue: the absence of a fully integrated cold chain system.

Cold chain development is not only a technical infrastructure intervention but rather a strategic enabler of value protection and economic efficiency. It also facilitates downstream benefits, such as value addition through food processing and improved access to structured markets. Without these interconnected elements, produce remains highly susceptible to deterioration, leading to substantial losses in both volume and value across the supply chain. For example, data from the World Bank^[2] indicate that tomato losses can reach 49%. This translates to an estimated economic loss for Rwanda of approximately $20 million USD annually, based on average farm-gate prices and national production levels. In this regard, approximately 21% of tomatoes are lost at the farm level due to pests, diseases, and suboptimal harvesting practices. An additional 11.5% is lost during transportation and storage and 23.6% is lost at the wholesale and retail level. A relatively small proportion, 5%, is lost after reaching the consumer. While similar trends are assumed for other horticultural commodities, empirical data remain limited. Further research is therefore essential to quantify these losses and inform targeted interventions.

Enabling cold chain access

Developing an effective and efficient cold chain system in Rwanda requires more than isolated infrastructure investments. It instead relies on a coordinated approach that addresses training gaps, physical connectivity, economic barriers to access, and institutional mechanisms for co-investment and service delivery^[5]. In our recent Clean Cooling Network (CCN) webinar, titled “Mapping the Food System: Identifying Critical Loss Points and Enhancing Efficiency – Case Study with the Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chain (ACES) in Rwanda”, the fresh produce supply chain in Rwanda was explored, with a focus on identifying critical loss points and proposing strategic interventions to address these inefficiencies. From this discussion, three interdependent pillars emerged as particularly important: 1) rural infrastructure development; 2) affordability of refrigerated transport; and 3) the strategic role of public–private partnerships. Each of these represents both a constraint and an opportunity for transforming Rwanda’s food system. Here we explore the first pillar, rural infrastructure development.

Pillar 1 - Rural infrastructure development

Rural infrastructure is important for cold chain functionality. Many rural farming communities in Rwanda lack access to reliable electricity, which severely limits the deployment of cold rooms and storage units. Even where power lines exist, frequent outages make it difficult to maintain consistent temperatures for perishable products. Off-grid and solar-powered cold storage solutions offer a promising alternative, especially in remote areas, but require upfront investment, technical support, and proper integration with farmer aggregation points. Equally, the absence of well-equipped aggregation centres with pre-cooling and handling facilities reduces the effectiveness of any transport or storage interventions. These realities highlight that cold chain development cannot rely on isolated interventions. It requires a system-of-systems approach that brings together energy, transport, storage, and market infrastructure to function as a coherent and interdependent whole.

Investing in multi-use rural infrastructure such as modular packhouses, processing facilities, solar-powered mini-grids, and community cooling hubs can significantly increase the uptake and performance of cold-chain systems. These facilities help preserve produce quality while also enabling smallholder farmers to sort, grade, and bulk their produce for market. To ensure sustainability, infrastructure planning must be inclusive and participatory, drawing input from farmer cooperatives, women’s groups, and community leaders to align investments with production realities. When developed as part of a system-of-systems approach, improved rural infrastructure can reduce postharvest loss, improve rural livelihoods, enhance income stability, and advance Rwanda’s broader goals for inclusive agricultural transformation.

The challenge of rural connectivity and road infrastructure

While affordability poses a significant barrier to cold-chain access (we explore this in detail in Part 2), inadequate transport infrastructure further compounds the challenge, especially in remote agricultural zones. In Rwanda, many high-production areas, such as Bugesera, Kamonyi and Rulindo districts remain poorly connected to primary markets due to limited road coverage and suboptimal road conditions. This lack of connectivity delays the movement of produce and renders refrigerated transport less viable, as journey times are extended, and vehicle wear-and-tear increases. For temperature-sensitive crops, such delays can result in considerable quality degradation or complete spoilage before reaching consumers^[2].

Road infrastructure is an essential enabler of functional cold-chains. However, constructing and maintaining rural roads remains a complex and costly undertaking. The financial burden associated with road development often exceeds the fiscal capacity of local governments, requiring external investment or concessional financing^[6]. The Government of Rwanda has prioritised this initiative and is currently constructing various roads across the country, including feeder roads that connect farmers to markets^[1]. In parallel, the Rwanda Transport Development Agency has initiated the construction of new roads linking provinces with Kigali, contingent upon the availability of financial resources. These efforts represent important progress; however, strategic guidance on routing and investment prioritisation remains necessary to ensure that road construction aligns effectively with major agricultural production zones and the specific requirements of cold-chain infrastructure.

To maximise the impact of infrastructure investment, road planning should be data-driven and coordinated with agricultural output trends. Prioritising connectivity in areas with high volumes of perishable production and significant access barriers that can substantially reduce transport times and postharvest losses. When integrated with the development of aggregation centres, cooling facilities, and regional trade networks, rural road investments can enhance the overall performance of agri-food value chains and increase the viability of cold-chain logistics^[7]. Emerging policy frameworks already reflect this direction. The National Strategy for Transformation (NST1) and PSTA 5 both highlight rural infrastructure as a priority for market integration and agricultural commercialisation^[1]. However, the effectiveness of these efforts will depend on tailored training, sustained financing, institutional coordination, and robust implementation strategies that align infrastructure upgrades with broader cold-chain and food system goals.

We will be exploring the two remaining pillars – 1) The affordability barrier in refrigeration transport; and 2) Public–private partnerships as enablers of cold-chain development, in Part 2 of this article. Look out for publication of that in the next few days.

The Network’s June 11-12 Accelerating Clean Cold-Chains To Power Rwanda’s Agricultural Transformation Workshop is taking place at the ACES Rubirizi Campus in Kigali, Rwanda^[8].