Isaac Nzabarinda, a 66-year-old potato farmer and seed multiplier from Kinigi Sector, has spent the final 25 years combating late blight illness with routine fungicide spraying, particularly throughout wet seasons when the illness spreads quickly.
Nzabarinda is amongst lots of of potato farmers and seed multipliers in Musanze District who spend vital quantities of cash on fungicides to guard their crops. On one-hectare alone, he spends about Rwf500,000 every season on fungicides and sprays as much as eight occasions, along with paying informal staff to use the chemical substances.
In response to Nzabarinda, farmers who fail to spray adequately throughout wet seasons can incur losses of as much as Rwf700,000 per hectare.
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Rwandan farmers at the moment develop 11 potato varieties, however two new fungicide-free varieties are anticipated to be launched to seed multipliers in September following the profitable completion of trials, in line with the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Assets Growth Board (RAB).
The brand new varieties known as Ndamira and Victoria have been bred to withstand late blight illness, providing renewed hope to potato farmers in Musanze and different potato-producing districts.
“We actually want these improved potato varieties,” mentioned Nzabarinda. “It’s a breakthrough for us. With the ability to plant and harvest potatoes with out spraying fungicides would eradicate a serious manufacturing price and convey many advantages.”
Nathalie Mujawimana, an agronomist primarily based in Gicumbi District, mentioned the advantages prolong past decreasing manufacturing prices.
“It’s a milestone in agricultural analysis and a recreation changer for potato farming,” Mujawimana mentioned. “Lowering fungicide use advantages human well being and helps shield the setting, since some pesticides may be dangerous to individuals and animals.”
The brand new potato varieties have been developed via standard breeding utilizing wild potato kinfolk. The breeding programme aimed to extend yields whereas addressing the devastating results of late blight illness, which may trigger losses of from 80 to 100% of harvests when fields are left unsprayed.
Trial outcomes for confirmed that even with out fungicide spraying the Ndamira selection can yield as much as 30 tonnes per hectare, whereas Victoria achieves an identical yield of 33 tonnes per hectare—demonstrating their potential to enhance productiveness whereas decreasing manufacturing prices.
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Anastase Nduwayezu, a potato pathology scientist at RAB, confirmed to The New Occasions that the brand new varieties have reached Part 4—the ultimate stage of improvement, which means that they’re able to be distributed for giant scale farming and human consumption.
“We have now examined the brand new potatoes, their color and style stay unchanged,” Nduwayezu mentioned. He added that the sphere trials performed in Musanze, Nyamagabe, Rubavu, and Burera districts have produced promising outcomes.
Scientists report that the varieties confirmed robust resistance to late blight and weren’t affected by potato viruses throughout the testing interval.
“The brand new varieties confirmed no signs of late blight,” he added.
RAB plans to distribute the brand new seeds to a restricted variety of seed multipliers between September and October 2026 earlier than progressively increasing manufacturing inside two years.
“We’ll initially present the brand new seeds to a small variety of farmers, however we count on to considerably improve availability by the tip of 2027,” he famous.
