Nderekanye Pascal, married with five children, a resident of Rubavu district in Nyamyumba Sector, Busoro Cell, Buhanga Village declared that Hinga-Ukire project interventions respond to community members’ needs in terms of bio-fortified parent materials, including cassava, sweet potatoes, and beans.
According to Nderekanye, for the community members in general and himself in particular as a crop multiplier, there is a crucial lack of parent materials of cassava, potatoes, and beans. “The last variety of beans we have dated 2018, the one of cassava dated 14 years ago, and we never had sweet potatoes parent material”, he stated with regret that all these varieties were not bio-fortified.
Thus, Hinga-Ukire project interventions mainly involve getting bio-fortified parent materials of cassava rich in carotene, orange-fleshed sweet potato, and High Iron Beans (HIB) rich in zinc and iron from the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Board (RAB). They will be multiplied using local seed multipliers and disseminated to smallholder farmers for adoption at their respective farms.
The interventions will cover around 5% of the total population in the intervention area. The number is given by considering the total surface area planned to grow biofortified crops (4500 hectares of beans, 900 hectares of cassava, and 810 hectares of sweet potatoes).
The Improving Productivity project through bio-fortified crops in Rubavu and Rutsiro districts” is implemented by RWARRI with funds from the European Union. The project, developed in collaboration with stakeholders, aims to positively impact 15,552 smallholder farmers in the target area through coordinated multi-sectoral efforts.