Sustaining Partnerships to Enhance Rural Enterprise and Agribusiness Development
Sustaining Partnerships to Enhance Rural Enterprise and Agribusiness Development (SPREAD) was established as a developmental alliance among the US and Rwandan universities, industries, enterprises, and institutions. Funded by US Agency for International Development (USAID) from 2006 – June 2012, SPREAD was led by the renowned Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture at Texas A&M University (TAMU), and operated under the Rwanda Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) through the National University of Rwanda (NUR).
SPREAD was initiated under USAID’s PEARL (“Partnership for Enhancing Agriculture in Rwanda through Linkages”– was a USAID-funded project which operated between 2000 and 2006, and focused on technology transfer and marketing improvements in the coffee subsector of Rwanda) project to improve livelihoods by strengthening rural enterprises leading to rural economic growth.
Objectives:
- Create enterprises capable of producing, marketing, and exporting high-value coffee, chili pepper, cassava flour, and pyrethrum
- Promote sustainability by building partnerships between US, European, and Rwandan enterprises
- Provide rural Rwandan agricultural enterprises technical assistance and access to market and health-related services resulting in increased incomes and improved livelihoods
Achievements:
- Improved quantity and quality control systems which increased prices paid for specialty coffee
- Increased market opportunities and premiums while promoting good environmental practices through organic coffee farming and certification
- Expanded capacity at all links in the value chain
- Increased local consumption of coffee and spin-off business development
- Increased marketing and sales of quality coffee
- Increased access and improved management of credit and finances
- Horticulture and other high-value chains expanded
- Increased access to health and HIV/AIDS Information and services
Cassava 
Chili Peppers 
Pyrethrum