Capacity building for food security through sustainable potato value chain development in Rwanda

Capacity building for food security through sustainable potato value chain development in Rwanda
NICHE/RWA/185
This project has been developed by the College of Agriculture, Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Busogo Campus (CAVM), the former Higher Institute of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (ISAE).

Project description

The overall objective of this four-year project is that CAVM/Busogo Campus contributes to sustainable food security systems in Rwanda through increased productivity of the potato value chain by delivering qualified graduates and relevant research programmes.

CAVM/ Busogo Campus specifically aims to:

• enhance its organisational capacity to produce high-quality graduates;
• run high-quality training and research programmes on the potato value chain;
• facilitate information management and sharing among stakeholders in the potato value chain.

In 2009, 4% of Rwanda's households had poor food consumption scores and 17% had borderline food consumption scores. It is estimated that that around half of Rwandan children suffer from chronic malnutrition.

Irish potatoes are an integral component of the diet in Rwanda, so it is important to improve potato production and revenues to improve food security and nutrition among poor rural households.