NARO Introduces New Irish potato varieties
BY EMMANUEL ALINITWE.
The National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO) in partnership with Kachwekano Zonal Agriculture Research Institute (KZARDI) has produced two disease-resistant Irish potato varieties via biotechnology to enable farmers to register high yields for food security and income generation.
The Director of Research for KZARDI, Jorom Kubiriba, says the newly introduced varieties are NARO Pot 5 and NARO Pot 6, which he said has been tested for the last three years.
Kubiriba says the institute and NARO spent over Shs740m on producing the new varieties.
He said that the new varieties are drought resistant, have a short dormancy period, have high dry matter content for processing and are good for eating.
Kubiriba urges farmers in the Kigezi region to embrace the new varieties to increase production and quality.
The new varieties come at a time farmers across Kigezi region are counting losses after growing poor quality potato seeds and a disease that destroyed their gardens while others are spending a lot of money on fungicides to fight off disease.
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