Biotech research offers new hope for Rwanda’s banana farmers

Biotech research offers new hope for Rwanda’s banana farmers

For more than two decades, banana farming was the lifeline of Euphrasie Mukankaka, a 56-year-old farmer from Nzige Sector in Rwamagana District. A mother of five, Mukankaka and her husband began cultivating bananas in the 1990s and expanded their farm in 2000 after receiving training in modern farming techniques. “We started focusing on plantain varieties, and by 2018 we had expanded to 3.5 hectares, harvesting about eight tonnes a month,” she r…