In some places of Kigali, you must pay around Rwf1,000 to get a kilo of quality (Irish) potatoes, or twice as much as the price of 2018. And, in the north-western part of Rwanda – the country's largest potato-producing region – a kilo goes for around Rwf500 – from about Rwf200 five years ago (in 2018).

"Indeed, including potatoes in one’s meals has become expensive. The irish potato is like a foodstuff for the rich,” said one resident of Gasabo District, who preferred anonymity.

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Speaking to The New Times, Jean Damascene Ntawushobora, a potato farmer in Nyabihu District, Western Province, said that the reason the price of potatoes of the Kinigi variety shot up is that from May to August, "we had an unprecedented dry spell,” indicating that the issue affected major potato-producing districts in the northwest part of Rwanda; Rubavu, Nyabihu, Musanze and Burera Districts.

"Because of drought, there was very poor potato harvest, such that a farmer got about two tonnes on a hectare of land where they would normally harvest 15 tonnes,” he said.

Even the produce that was obtained was from potato crops grown in areas where soils have humidity even during the dry season, Ntawushobora said, citing places that are close to Volcanoes National Park.

"Potato prices rose because of supply shortage,” he said, citing the Kinigi variety that currently costs Rwf700 per kilo in Nyabihu, which is more than three times the Rwf200 it was priced at in 2018.

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Commenting on potato prices, the Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Ildephonse Musafiri, said that there were many factors underlying that. They include drought and limited availability and access to quality seeds, he pointed out.

He was speaking during a session held in parliament on October 10.

Musafiri indicated that drought took its toll on potato production in the northern part of Rwanda, where the crop is mostly grown.

"We used to be lucky to have rainfall in the months of June, July, and August. But what we are seeing this time is unprecedented. Though this is not the potato harvest season, we would not have an acute shortage. They (potatoes) would be available, albeit in inadequate quantity,” he told parliamentarians.

"But, from May, June, July, and August, it did not rain in that area [northern part of Rwanda]. Farmers planted potato seeds, but they were hit by crop failure,” he remarked.

Meanwhile, Musafiri said, there were even more exports of potatoes as farmers got a good market for their produce abroad.

Again, population growth is contributing to more demand for potatoes in the country, he indicated.

"We currently consume about 1.5 million tonnes of potatoes. We need to increase productivity per hectare,” Musafiri observed, pointing out that achieving that will be partly determined by the availability of quality potato seeds.

"About 85 per cent of farmers grow poor-quality potato seed, which results in lower production per hectare. Yet, you realise that consumption increases among Rwandans [as the population also rises],” he said.

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What are possible solutions to the problem?

To deal with the challenges, Musafiri said, "we have undertaken an initiative to produce quality potato seeds.”

These include ensuring an effective multiplication of quality potato seeds produced in the laboratories of Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) in order to get more seeds to supply to farmers for better yields.

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"We committed ourselves to having solved the potato seed issue in a year such that we harvest 30 tonnes of potatoes per hectare from the current eight tonnes per hectare,” Musafiri said.

"That will help us address the problem. Though land will not expand – as it will remain the same –we will increase productivity,” he said, citing financing, including matching grants and cheap loans, provided under the $300 million Commercialisation and De-Risking for Agricultural Transformation Project (CDAT) as one of the means to attain that objective.

As things stand now, quality potato seeds are expensive, with a kilo of the Kinigi variety going for Rwf1,000, according to farmers. That implies an investment of at least Rwf1 million per hectare since an estimated one tonne of seed is needed for that size of a farm.

ALSO READ: Farmers push for affordable Irish potato seeds

According to Musafiri, irrigation is also being considered to help farmers build resilience to drought effects.

However, implementing irrigation on farms in the north-western region that are not close to water bodies is challenging, and would imply a huge cost of production for farmers, the New Times understands.