Attitude and experience of smallholder farmers towards potato crop intensification in southwestern Uganda

In Uganda, potato (Solanum tuberosum L) is a growing lucrative crop particularly in the densely populated rural areas of the country, whose production considerably limited the supply to markets owing to conservative production methods. The objective of this study was assessing the influence of attitudes and experiences of smallholder farmers on uptake of innovations towards potato crop intensification in Southwestern Uganda. The study was conducted in Rubanda, Rukiga and Kabale districts in southwestern Uganda using 3 focus group discussions (FGDs). Results indicate that potato farmers had a negative attitude towards Kachwekano Zonal Agricultural Research Institute (Ka-ZARDI), a government facility mandated to promote foundation seed of potato and to promote uptake pathways of proven technologies. Consequently, they have continued to use low quality potato recycled from local sources, especially own-saved seed source and fellow farmer seed sources. Farmers lack knowledge and experience on use of crop production intensification practices such as use of fertilisers and certified seed. Kachwekano Zonal Agricultural Research Institute needs to engage more rigorously with the farming community in order to accelerate uptake of innovations towards potato production intensification. It is also imperative that clear extension messages are disseminated in order to ascertain production intensification impact on the ground. Keywords: Certified seed, foundation seed, Solanum tuberosum, Uganda