Participatory assessment of potato production constraints and trait preferences in potato cultivar development in Rwanda

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the major food and cash crop in the highland regions of Rwanda. However, farmers are not integrated into the potato breeding process. The objectives of this research were to identify farmers’ key potato production constraints and establish preferred traits in potato cultivar development in Rwanda. A participatory rural appraisal (PRA) study was conducted through structured survey involving 144 households and 22 focus groups with 258 participants in Musanze, Gicumbi and Nyamagabe districts. The structured survey used a questionnaire administered to farmers to collect information on importance of potatoes and other main crops. While focus groups discussions used matrix scoring of key production constraints and pair-wise ranking of traits. Potato is the most important food and cash crop, followed by maize, beans and wheat. The dominant potato varieties are Kirundo, Cruza, Mabondo and Victoria. The most important potato production constraints are lack of access to credit, lack of high yielding cultivars, insufficient clean seeds and late blight disease. Variety Mabondo is the most tolerant to late blight, followed by Cruza, Kirundo, Kinigi and Rutuku in all the districts. High yield, disease tolerance and high dry matter content are the most important attributes preferred by farmers. Active farmer participation in early breeding stages is critical for a successful potato breeding programme