Rwanda banks on seed multipliers to increase cassava production

Published 2021년 4월 13일

Tridge summary

Rwanda is attempting to boost cassava production by introducing disease-resistant varieties and increasing the availability of clean seeds. The country currently produces about three million tonnes of cassava annually, but this could be increased to eight million tonnes per year with the scale-up of new varieties and appropriate use of fertilizers. Cassava is the second most cultivated crop and the fourth most consumed staple food in Rwanda. The country has received support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to combat two cassava diseases, Cassava Brown Streak disease and Cassava Mosaic disease, through the distribution of resistant germplasm and clean seeds.

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Original content

It requires 'quick multiplication of cassava clean seeds' as part of efforts to scale up new disease-resistant cassava varieties on about 200,000 hectares that are used for cassava growing in Rwanda, researchers have said. Athanase Nduwumuremyi, the Coordinator of Roots and Tubers Programme and Cassava breeder at Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resource Development Board (RAB) said that the efforts by seed multipliers are needed considering that many farmers are still harvesting lower yields using traditional seeds. "The average of cassava production is 15 tonnes per hectare due to using traditional seeds that have diseases yet model farmers using the cassava clean seed are harvesting over 35 tonnes per hectare," he explained. Figures show that some farmers are still even harvesting below the potential yield. Rwanda currently produces around three million tonnes of cassava as average production and scaling up new varieties could increase to about eight million tonnes per year with ...

Source: All Africa