Exporters of horticultural products are not seeing any end to their troubles, as a twin problem of limited space on planes and ban of their goods in the UK continues to expose many to untold losses.

Even before the UK banned Rwandan flights as it moved to contain coronavirus cases, RwandAir had already reduced the UK route to one flight per week, which significantly reduced cargo space for exporters leading to losses.

A wide range of horticulture crops like French beans, chilli, egg plants, and others that had been grown by farmers and exporters as they targeted to serve European markets are now rotting in farms, while others have had to uproot the plants.

Many are currently uprooting these plants and replacing them with beans and maize, as they lose hope in export goods.

Even the few that are exported end up being grounded and destroyed in markets like the UK before they get to buyers, on suspicion that they contain a virus.

“As we speak, I am writing an email to DEFRA, the UK body charged with enforcing standards, all the consignments we sent last week have been grounded with no basis, no test results all they say is that they are suspected of having a virus, we are losing a lot of money” said said Rukundo Robert, the president of Rwanda horticulture exporters association.

“It is unusual that all the six consignments contain a virus, if they have tested why not release the results, they are only telling us about one that is now free from the virus, the mere fact that it was impounded raises questions” said Mr Rukundo.

He says that having checks in place is prudent, but the problem is the entire process has no transparency.  “Since airlines going to Europe were grounded, we only depend on RwandAir’s one flight to Brussels, one flight takes only 34 tonnes,” Mr Rukundo said.

Some Rwandan exporters have been using trucks to transport their goods from Brussels to the UK, but this has also become cumbersome and too risky.

Others have been using Ethiopian airline’s Thursday flight, which goes via Addis Ababa, but getting a connecting flight to the UK often proves very challenging for them.

The fall in prices of their export goods especially since the last part of 2020 when Europe experienced coronavirus resurgence, has also been a strong pain point for many exporters and farmers.