Rwanda is the third largest consumer of sweet potatoes in Africa and 9 out 10 farm households in Rwanda cultivate sweet potatoes. Sweet potato growing is increasingly becoming important food security crop. The varieties of sweet potatoes grown in Rwanda include the following;

• White sweet potatoes
• Orange-fleshed sweet potatoes

Districts that grow sweet potatoes

The districts that grow sweet potatoes include the following;

• Rulindo District
• Muhanga District
• Kamonyi District
• Bugesera District

Diseases that attack sweet potato in Rwanda

The diseases that attack sweet potatoes include the following;

• Sweet potato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV)
• Sweet potato chlorotic stunt virus (SPCSV)
• Sweet potato mild mottle virus (SPMMV)
• Sweet potato chlorotic fleck virus (SPCFV)
• Sweet potato caulimo-like virus (SPCaLV)
• Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) using nitrocellulose membrane enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Uses of sweet potatoes

The uses include the following;

• Sweet potato flour  can be  used as a substitute for imported wheat flour
• Sweet potato generates cash income

Challenges

The growing of sweet potatoes has the following challenges;

• The sweet roots are bulky and costly to transport long distances.
• There are no adequate domestic markets for the sweet potatoes.
• Sweet potato prices plummet during periods of abundance.
• The farmers do not use modern methods of growing sweet potatoes.
• Unavailability of farm inputs.
• Poor storage facilities for the sweet potatoes.
• High infestations of various sweet potato viruses.
• The sweet potatoes are also attacked by vertebrate pests.

Areas that Grow Sweet Potatoes

The key sweet potatoes growing districts include the following;

• Gakenke District
• Bugesera District