The Partnership for Enhancing Agriculture in Rwanda through Linkages (PEARL) is a project to promote agricultural improvement in Rwanda

Rwanda

Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...

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The goal of PEARL is to assist the nation of Rwanda in its efforts to rebuild from the impacts of the Rwandan Genocide

Rwandan Genocide

The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate...

 and civil war

Civil war

A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....

 of 1994. PEARL works with rural communities across Rwanda to generate revenue through the development of agricultural products and market linkages.

PEARL is funded by the United States Agency for International Development

United States Agency for International Development

The United States Agency for International Development is the United States federal government agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. President John F. Kennedy created USAID in 1961 by executive order to implement development assistance programs in the areas...

 and led by researchers at Michigan State University

Michigan State University

Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...

, Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...

 and various Rwandan bodies including the National University of Rwanda

National University of Rwanda

The National University of Rwanda is the largest university in Rwanda. It is located at in the city of Butare and was established in 1963 by the government in cooperation with the Congregation of the Dominicans from the Province of Quebec.When it was established, the NUR had three divisions The...

, the Agricultural Research Institute of Rwanda, the Kigali Institute of Science, Technology and Management

Kigali Institute of Science and Technology

The Kigali Institute of Science, Technology and Management in Kigali, Rwanda is the first technology-focused institution of higher education to be created by the Rwanda government.It was established in November, 1997...

 and the Rwandan National Coffee Board. University resources are channelled directly into rural areas to promote agricultural improvement and increase revenues.

The project is working with grower cooperative

Cooperative

A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...

s on the production and marketing of various agricultural products, with the current focuses on coffee

Coffee

Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

 and cassava

Cassava

Cassava , also called yuca or manioc, a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae native to South America, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates...

 products. Increasing attention to quality control and consistency in production has led to success in worldwide exports. An example of such success is the production and sales of Maraba Coffee

Maraba Coffee

Maraba coffee is grown in the Maraba area of southern Rwanda.Maraba's coffee plants are the Bourbon variety of the Coffea arabica species and are grown on fertile volcanic soils on high-altitude hills. The fruit is handpicked, mostly during the rainy season between March and May, and brought to a...

 from Maraba, Rwanda

Maraba, Rwanda

Maraba is a region in southern Rwanda. It used to be a district in the Butare Province before a government decentralization programme that re-organized the country's administrative divisions in 2006. It is now part of the Southern Province. The closest major city is Butare.Maraba is most notable...

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The current PEARL Director is Dr. Timothy Schilling.

External links

• Official web site of PEARL project
• PEARL Webpage (Michigan State University)