An Empowerment Hub brings electric tractors to Rwanda’s small farms: Inside the Volkswagen–GIZ GenFarm partnership
In Gashora, Rwanda, farmers book a solar-charged electric tractor, driver included, instead of buying one. Volkswagen, GIZ and their partners are testing whether that model can bring machines to small farms across Africa.
On Rwanda's small farms, the hand hoe still does most of the work. Land is split into ever-smaller plots as the population grows, FAO notes. In 2024/25, machines worked about 11,000 hectares, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. That is less than 1% of the 1.4 million hectares farmed each season.
A tractor is too expensive for a farm this size to own, and it runs on imported diesel. Hand work is slow and exhausting, and it limits how much a family can produce. Every hour spent in the field is an hour not spent earning money elsewhere.
A tractor on call
At the Empowerment Hub in Gashora, about 60 km from Kigali, solar panels charge five electric tractors. Farmers book a tractor, trained driver included, when their fields need one.
The tractors have worked 100 hectares for 85 farms since services started in October 2024.
Who does what
- Volkswagen developed the tractors and the E-hub under its Gen.Farm programme; Arc Power runs the E-hub.
- The Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) provided the land.
- The Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture (RICA) has tested the tractor prototypes since 2021 and uses them for training its own students and for research purposes.
- The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), on behalf of Germany's development ministry (BMZ), connects the partners, procures equipment for the e-tractors and the E-hub, organises field demonstrations and implements training for farmers on entrepreneurship and sustainable agricultural practices.
- Journey House Actions anchors the project in the local community, making sure that value generation goes beyond Gashora's farmers.
Beyond Gashora
Across sub-Saharan Africa, human muscle supplies about two-thirds of the power used to prepare farmland, FAO estimated in 2016. That is why what happens in Gashora matters beyond Rwanda.
Booking instead of buying brings tractors to farms too small to own one. Solar charging takes imported diesel out of the running costs. And each empowerment hub needs drivers and mechanics, which means skilled work in rural areas.
The open question is money. An analysis by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) from 2024 suggests that tractor hire in Rwanda may still cost too much, and farm labour too little, for farmers to switch soon.
Electric tractors can bring that cost down. Booking one at the E-hub costs 22% less than hiring a diesel tractor for a first ploughing, and 12.5% less for a second tilling. With conflicts far from Rwanda's borders pushing diesel prices to record highs this year, that gap is likely to widen.
GIZ's project ends in December 2026, but the E-hub and the skills built around it are set to stay in Gashora. The plan is for local organisations to take the lead and keep the hub serving the community.
About the project: Sustainable Mechanization of Value Chains through Innovative, Gender-Sensitive Business Models is part of the Fund for the Promotion of Innovation in Agriculture (i4Ag), under the special initiative Transformation of Agricultural and Food Systems of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). GIZ implements it in Kenya and Rwanda from August 2023 to December 2026.