Agri-Business
Monday, March 31, 2014
Rwanda fights potato taste in coffee
KIGALI, Rwanda - A two-day Symposium was recently held in Kigali to find ways of dealing with the potato taste defect in the East African coffee.
Gatarayiha Celestin, Head of Coffee Division at the National Agriculture Export Board (NAEB) said: “We have formed national collaborative research and extension groups consisting of people from different institutions in order to bring efforts together in streamlining challenges that are in coffee including potato taste.”
Reports indicate that coffee beans from Rwanda may have potato taste defect (PTD). The defect gives the coffee beans an unpleasant aroma if roasted.
Rwanda has over 300 coffee farmer field schools to train farmers in good agronomic practices and control of pests and diseases aimed at improving coffee productivity and quality.
Gatarayiha said the research is aimed at creating a platform of sharing information among coffee stakeholders at national, regional and international level on efforts to reduce the potato taste in the great lakes region.
“We are encouraging farmers to supply good cherries to coffee washing stations and enhance sorting operation at CWS and supply dry mill,” he said.
Training for cuppers that can be able to detect very easily the potato taste in coffee was introduced.
Coffee experts called for investment in scientific research, innovation and market outlets.
Minister of Agriculture, Agnes Kalibata has called for collaboration in finding measures of improving the quality of coffee. She advised the private sector to participate fully the research, provide extension services to farmers and support research which will lead to more research and technology development.
NAEB Director George William Kayonga said the institution was putting in place different strategies that would help meet the challenges faced in the agriculture sector.
Kayonga said NAEB and other stakeholders are seeking to find sustainable solutions to the plight.
Coffee exports earned $55million by exporting about 20,000 tonnes of coffee.
Coffee remains the main agricultural export in Rwanda. The sector has over 400,000 smallholder farmers with about 42,000 hectares cultivated.
The symposium was organized by NAEB, and attracted participants from US, Kenya, UK, Uganda, South Africa, South Korea and Burundi.
By Agnes Bateta, Monday, March 31st, 2014