The National Industrial Research and Development Agency (NIRDA) on Tuesday disseminated findings from the project entitled “Enhancement of Production Technology, Quality and Competitiveness of Rwandan Banana Beverage products”
The project that is ending soon was implemented under the funding from the National Council for Science and Technology (NCST) to carry out the research that address the issue faced with Banana beverage production in the country.
The event was attended by various stakeholders from Banana Wine Value chain especially banana wine processors. During the project implementation, a survey s was conducted to all value chain actor identify gaps.
The two-year project started in 2019 but was extended for one more year due to COVID-19 Pandemic that hindered the implementation progress.
As a key solution, a starter culture (yeast) locally known as Umusemburo was developed through NIRDA’s Research and Developed (R&D)’s Life Science Laboratory (LSL) in partnership with the Institut Catholique de Kabgayi’s Incubation Center.
The yeast proved to be serious after it was applied in the Banana Wine and evaluated by consumers through NIRDA’s sensory room that is part of the Life Science laboratory.
Speaking during the dissemination event, Dr. Olivier Kamana, Head of Applied Research and Development and Foresight Incubation Program at NIRDA thanked NCST for the financial support to conduct such an important research that will contribute to the production of quality Banana Alcoholic beverages.
“We are so grateful for the funding by NCST that enabled the smooth running of the project under which the now celebrated findings would not have been achieved.We are ready for further research leading to more findings and look forward to scale up the mass production of the yeast to be used by Banana beverage producers,” he said.
Banana Based Alcoholic Beverages welcomed the research findings, especially the developped starter culture (Umusemburo).
“I am very thankful to NIRDA for the project to develop the yeast and I hope the price will be affordable. This will solve the issue of lack if quality banana alcoholic beverage where we don’t have any accepted yeast meant for banana wine and banana beverage products,” said Jean Damascene Semwiza,, from Indakamirwa, ltd based in Huye district.
The National Industrial Research and Development Agency (NIRDA), is a government institution that has been mandated with a mission to enable a generation of industrial innovators to become competitive through technology monitoring, acquisition, development and transfer & applied research.
