Magister Commercii - MCom / Rwanda is constrained by an export structure that is heavily dependent on one or a few agricultural export products such as coffee, tea , pyrethrum and cinchona. The country did not manage to industrialize or to diversify its export structure significantly during the post-independence period. The situation was worsened by the civil war of 1994, which almost destroyed all sectors of the economy. Traditional export crops, such as coffee, cotton, tea, cocoa, palm oil, and tobacco are all subject to large price fluctuations and declining world market prices. This paper considered the case for diversification into non-traditional agricultural exports as a strategy for improving a developing country's terms of trade. The study put forward a case of Higland Flowers Project; a flowers project located in rural Kigali about 5 kilometers to the Kigali International airport. / South Africa

Postharvest stem bending is one of the most detrimental factors that affect postharvest quality life of Gerbera jamesonii cutflower varieties. Stem bending is of economic importance in the cutflower industry in South Africa because it negatively affects the overall total sales. Growers and retailers want to improve the postharvest vaselife of this crop using suitable preservatives. The aim of this study was to determine suitable preservatives and optimal vaselife conditions that could prevent or minimise postharvest stem bending of Gerbera jamesonii “Black diamond”. The variety “Black diamond was selected and treated with four different floral preservative solutions. The relationship between stem bending and absorption rate of the preservative solutions was established. The data gathered indicated that there was a significant difference to the solution absorption rate and stem bending. Stem bending differed from 0 to 38 degrees. Stems treated on control, preservative 3 and 4 recorded the highest degrees of bending, while preservative 1 and 2 recorded the lowest degrees of stem bending within 12 day period. The performance results of the preservatives and control repeated three times under the same experimental conditions showed that preservative 1 and 2 can be used to minimise postharvest stem bending of Gerbera jamesonii ‘Black diamond’ / College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences / M. Sc. (Ornamental Horticulture)