Rwanda will set up a wholesale market in Kigali for the benefit of potato farmers in the country.
To be built in the Gisozi area of the capital city, the market’s aim will be to provide farmers with a guaranteed market for the popular Irish potato crop, tackling price uncertainty and simultaneously promoting the export trade.
The revelation was made by the Rwandan trade minister Francois Kanimba earlier this week, who told local newspaper New Times that the move will also help remove middlemen, who have been exploiting farmers.
The minister added that collection centres will also be set up at cell and sector levels, while selling points will be created in the major potato producing areas to ensure proper linkages between farmers and buyers.
Kanimba noted that committees throughout the various levels of the value chain will monitor quality and file weekly reports on the collection and selling centres.
Grown mainly in the north and west of the country, Irish potatoes are not only one of Rwanda’s staple food crops, but also a promising export prospect, with Zambia, South Sudan and several other countries recently expressing an interest in the product.
