Rwanda is getting ready to test genetically modified potato varieties resistant to late blight, a disease that causes major losses to farmers during rainy seasons, according to a researcher at Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB).

The first trials will launched in the agricultural season that begins in September, The New Times has learnt. Trials for cassava are already underway in Huye, Nyanza and Bugesera, according to RAB.

Agricultural researchers say the adoption of genetically modified organisms (GMO) crops in Africa have the potential to tackle with drought, diseases and pests that destroy plants, leading to losses for farmers and worsening food insecurity.

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Athanase Nduwumuremyi, the Coordinator of the Roots and Tubers Programme at RAB, said that Rwanda is working with the International Potato Centre, which has GM0 potato varieties developed based on the varieties commonly grown in the country, including Victoria, an early maturing potato which can be grown three times in a year.

Nduwumuremyi said this on Friday, August 30, at the end of a three-day researchers’ strategic dialogue on research and biotechnology in Africa's agricultural and food systems held in Kigali.

He said the government is also working with Michigan State University on the project.

"We have a plan to work on potato varieties that are resistant to late blight, a disease that requires that a farmer apply pesticides until they harvest,” Nduwumuremyi said.

"When you do not spray pesticides, you do not get the yield you want,” he said, underscoring the severity of the fungal disease.

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Nduwumuremyi said that confined field trials for the GMO potato varieties are expected to be carried out in the farming season which runs from September 2024 through February 2025 in Musanze District, one of the major potato producing areas in the country.

Irish potato is one of six priority food crops that Rwanda’s crop intensification programme focuses on, others being maize, wheat, rice, beans and cassava.

"So far, we have met all the requirements allowing us to set up a confined field trial site and the licence to import those seeds,” Nduwumuremyi said.