Pyrethrum was introduced to Rwanda by private growers in 1963, then grown on a small scale on farms scattered across the north-west of the country. In the same year however, the Rwandan Government took interest in the cash crop and promoted pyrethrum growing on a larger scale by availing 14,000 hectares from Volcanoes Nation Park; an area with good rainfall distribution, of high elevation and with volcanic Soil, ideal natural conditions for pyrethrum farming. About 7,000 farmers came together to form a pyrethrum association known as ASSPY. Each farmer was allocated two hectares, 40% of which wasto be used to grow pyrethrum. The farmers then used the land on contract basis for food production and pyrethrum growing on a rotational system.

In 1978, the association was merged with the processing plant to form OPYRWA (Office du Pyrethrum du Rwanda), a government owned company. The following two decades were very challenging to the entire East African regional pyrethrum industry and like all sectors of the economy, the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi left the pyrethrum industry in Rwanda almost destroyed, leaving the processing plant looted and plantations abandoned.