Potato News from Rwanda

Rwanda is now a key hub for seed potato trade in the Great Lakes Region, thanks to farmer-led innovations, Africa’s largest minituber facility, a national seed catalogue, and efforts toward regional integration and formal cross-border seed markets.

The Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resource Development Board (RAB) is conducting trials on new potato varieties that require no fungicide spraying

The lack of quality seed for improved varieties has been attributed to the limited capacity of seed multipliers to produce enough to meet farmer’s demands.

Potato farmers have welcomed the government’s on-going trials on the use of agricultural biotechnology in producing a new Irish potato variety resistant to the devastating late blight disease.

Potato farmers in Rwanda are counting their losses, claiming that they are selling their produce at 'giveaway' prices, despite the cost remaining high on the market.

The triadic comparisons of technologies – or tricot – approach is being used in a citizen-science project funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB) to identify and scale up best cassava and potato varieties in Rwanda.

CIP and RAB are focusing their efforts in this area to release varieties that are high-yielding, pest and disease resistant, and climate-resilient.  But is this enough to overcome the low potato yields faced by Rwandan farmers?

A Rwandan entrepreneur is pioneering the use of innovative farming technology that, he believes, is set to play a major role in feeding the growing population in his country, amid increasing pressure on arable land.

The Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) has started testing True Potato Seeds, which are produced by Solynta, a Dutch firm that develops hybrid potatoes. True Potato Seeds are collected from the berries or fruits of the potato plant.

Rwanda Agricultural Board has said that it is working with agricultural experts to introduce affordable technologies that could help store potatoes for over a period of six months in a bid to fight against food insecurity and low prices affecting farmers.

Rwanda needs about 35,000 tons of quality potato seeds to cover 25 percent of total cultivated land in each growing season. The targeted quantity to fill the existing gap is 60 percent despite persisting challenges.

During his presentation at the official opening of the 11th African Potato Congress in Kigali, Rwanda, World Potato Congress President Romain Cools announced the continuous effort of his organization to be a partner of the African potato sector.

Potato organizations on Monday called for deliberate efforts to increase potato and sweet potatoes production for sustainable nutritious food systems in Africa.

In Rwanda, the Ministry of Agriculture and partners have pledged to establish modern seed potato warehouses and greenhouses to ensure the supply of quality seed potatoes.

New potato varieties are needed in Rwanda to meet the current market demands. Nevertheless, the potato variety Kinigi is still favorite among farmers as well as in the community of potato consumers.

The Hollanda Fair Foods potato processing plant in Rwanda, which produces the Winnaz Crisps brand, is set to scale up its chips production capacity five-fold.

The Government of Rwanda is in the process of privatising the Nyabihu District-based potato processing plant amid tight market and low production capacity, according to the The New Times.

BlackPace Africa Group has bought Ndiyo Business Group, a major producer of salted potato chips in Rwanda.