Rwanda: The Rubaya community gene bank

The Rubaya community gene bank, located in the Rubaya sector of Gicumbi district in Northern Rwanda, is managed by the Kundisuka cooperative. It originated when a farmer by the name of Mpoberabanzi Silas and an agronomist working in the Rubaya sector recognized the need to preserve some of the genetic resources in the area that were being lost (e.g. several varieties of beans, peas, maize, wheat and sorghum). Implementation of the project was supported by the staff of the Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) in cooperation with Bioversity International (Plate 18). The managing cooperative was created in September 2012 and consists of about ten members with Mpoberabanzi Silas as president. The community gene bank’s storage facilities were constructed locally with support from Vision 2020’s Umurenge Program and the Ministry of Local Government. Their main purpose is to store the region’s priority crops (maize, wheat, beans and Irish potatoes), but farmers are free to use the facilities to store and conserve other seeds and planting material. The community gene bank does not yet have a visible role in the community, for example, in seed production or participatory crop improvement, as it is still in its early stages. However, its members’ vision is to invest in seed multiplication to make good-quality seeds available to the local community and regional gene banks. This will transform the enterprise into a business-oriented farmer cooperative certified by RAB

Assessment of Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN) prevalence and its impact on maize production in Rwanda

Maize lethal necrosis (MLN) is a serious viral disease of maize, which was first reported in Rwanda in 2013. Being aware of the disastrous effects it had caused in regional countries, we set out to study its prevalence, level of awareness among farmers on management practices and its impact on the overall maize production and farmer livelihoods during 2015. This country wide study targeted a total of 539 respondents drawn from all the 30 districts, down to each sector. We used stratified, purposive and random sampling to collect data. Our results indicated a wide spread of disease to the entire country. We ran cumulative logistic regression models and found out that the chances of having higher levels of MLN in Western Province, for example, are ten, three, one and one times the chances in the Eastern Province, Kigali, Northern Province and Southern Province, respectively. Results also showed that a significantly higher number of respondents (54.4%) were not aware of MLN, which is a concern for its management. The assessment of MLN impact on maize production indicated that the disease had caused losses of up to 100% and was threatening the production of this food security crop. The observed low levels of MLN awareness as well as inappropriate plant protection measures calls for stepping up of MLN awareness and management campaigns among the farming community to curtail its further spread.Keywords: Maize lethal necrosis, Rwanda, prevalence, impac