A new greenhouse Insurance Product was launched in Rwanda by the Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) on May 7, 2026, at the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) in Kigali.the new product, one of the sub-sectoral insurances under the National Agriculture Insurance Scheme "Tekana Urishingiwe Muhinzi Mworozi," is designed to protect farmers from climate-related risks, structural damage, pests, and diseases.
This new product will cover the steel structures of the greenhouse, irrigation machinery, and any produce in transit and all high-value crops like tomatoes, cucumbers and green peppers. The new product is made affordable by maintaining the 40 percent premium subsidy from the Government of Rwanda, while the farmers pay 60 percent of the premium.
During the launch event, Joseph Museruka, a Project Manager of the scheme, called greenhouse farming a central pillar in achieving a transformation towards PSTA 5, increasing productivity and quality of vegetables in Rwanda. He highlighted that the product has been realized in response to strong demand from investors who are willing to take on significant risk with the technology.
"Greenhouse farming is an expensive investment for both installation and operations; therefore, strong winds, heavy rains, and structural damage lead to tremendous financial loss to the farmers. This insurance will reduce their fear of losing their investments and give the chance for more farmers to invest in the technology, especially youth and agribusiness investors." - Joseph Museruka.
The launch comes on the back of the goal by the Government of Rwanda to increase its export crop area from 79,409 hectares to 97,100 hectares by the year 2029. Since its inception in 2019, the "Tekana" scheme has enrolled over 200,000 farmers annually, with farmers and livestock keepers being compensated a total of more than 9.3 billion RFW on their claims.
The government, on its part, has called on farmers to sign up for this insurance product before the start of the planting season, financial institutions were called upon to take insurance as collateral for bank loans and partners like Old Mutual, Radiant, Sonarwa and BK insurance were called upon to provide effective and efficient claims service to back up the transition for a more resilient and professional agricultural sector.
Written by Jean Bernard MUKUNDENTE