• Rwanda launches BioCap project to build crop biotechnology capacity

• Five-year program targets cassava, potato, banana improvement

• $14 million centre to train scientists in advanced biotech techniques

Rwanda’s Ministry of Agriculture launched the Rwanda Biotech Capacity Building (BioCap) project on Dec. 15, aiming to strengthen the capacity of national scientists to develop improved crop varieties.

The project will be implemented over the next five years by the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB) and the International Potato Center (CIP), the ministry said in a statement. BioCap will initially focus on three strategic crops: cassava, potato and banana.

One of the project’s main initiatives is the construction of a crop biotechnology centre of excellence at a RAB site in Rubona. The local daily The New Times reported that the facility is backed by $14 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Once operational, the centre is expected to train Rwandan scientists in advanced techniques including genetic transformation, genome editing, molecular diagnostics and biosafety. Florence Uwamahoro, acting director general of RAB, said the technologies would support the development of potato varieties resistant to late blight, a fungal disease that can cause harvest losses of between 60% and 100% in East Africa.

The project also plans to develop cassava varieties resistant to cassava brown streak virus, which can destroy up to 80% of yields, and to improve resistance in certain banana varieties to bacterial wilt and Fusarium, the fungus responsible for Fusarium wilt.

“The BioCap project will also strengthen Rwanda’s capacity to generate regulatory, environmental and food safety data, and to integrate biotech crops into performance trials, seed systems and extension services,” Agriculture and Animal Resources Minister Solange Uwituze said.

The government views biotechnology as a strategic tool to boost agricultural production and productivity.

In this context, Rwanda launched its National Biotechnology Programme in October 2024 at a cost of $9.9 million. The five-year programme aims to improve the productivity of strategic crops such as cassava, maize and potato through the introduction of genetically modified varieties resistant to disease, pests and drought.

Rwanda approved legislation on July 13, 2023 authorising the use, processing, marketing, import and export of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). However, no GMO crops are currently grown on a large scale in the country.

As part of recent developments in the sector, RAB began testing genetically modified potato varieties resistant to late blight in September 2024.

Stéphanas Assocle