Meet Hangiyaremye Enias, a farmer and Irish potato aggregator in Ngororero District. He collects produce from other smallholder farmers in the area and delivers it to Kigali thereby providing market for fresh produce.
He also owns an Irish potato farm, but, his business is affected by poor Irish potato seeds farmers use that do not provide good yield. These concerns are also echoed by many farmers who are still struggling to get access to the improved seeds, according to the just released Access to Seeds Index 2019.
To counter this challenge, Rwanda Agriculture Board is already working around the clock to train staff who will support seed inspectors to enable farmer to access high quality Irish Potato seeds.
In private, – public partnership with Hinga Weze, RAB organised a three-day training of support staff on May 7 – 9, 2019, in Musanze District to build their capacity on quality seed control and certification. The trainees composed of local government agronomists and staff from SPF- Ikigega, and Horizon Sopyrwa.
The training workshop was officially opened by the RAB Deputy Director General Dr Charles Bucagu who called on the trainees to support farmers in order to ensure they access quality seeds.
