Nieuws over Nieuwe aardappelrassen uit Afrika

Kenya nears release of '3R' Late Blight-resistant potatoes after 20+ years of research by CIP & KALRO. Supported by 2Blades, Feed the Future & Simplot, the varieties promise higher yields, disease protection, and improved food security by 2026.

The James Hutton Institute introduced two PCN-resistant potato varieties, Malaika and Glen, in Kenya. Developed with international partners, they boost yields, support food security, and meet local farmers’ needs for fast-cooking, low-dormancy potatoes.

Elder Isaiah Buwah is growing potatoes for forty years in the Plateau State, North Central Nigeria. Having seen the impact from late blight first hand, he truly enjoyed the harvest of the first batch of - resistant - biotech potatoes.

Potato farmers have welcomed the government’s on-going trials on the use of agricultural biotechnology in producing a new Irish potato variety resistant to the devastating late blight disease.

The Savannah Agriculture Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research [CSIR – SARI] has introduced new varieties of the ‘Frafra’ potato crop to farmers in the Talensi and Nabdam districts of the Upper East Region.

The triadic comparisons of technologies – or tricot – approach is being used in a citizen-science project funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB) to identify and scale up best cassava and potato varieties in Rwanda.

Potato is important to food security and a cash crop in Ethiopia with high potential to improve the livelihoods of small-scale farmers, who account for 83% of the total population and hold 95% of agricultural land.

In Nigeria, the Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, attended the official start of the construction of a Potato Tissue Culture Laboratory in the Mangu Local Government Area.

The permanent secretary in the ministry of Agriculture, Mr Mathew Mtigumwe, and the Dutch Ambassador to Tanzania, Mr Jeroen Verheul, signed the document on behalf of the two governments.

Victoria - a popular local potato variety in Uganda - is extremely susceptible to potato Late Blight disease, but a resistant GM version of this variety has been developed.
With testing almost complete, it is up to the government biosafety regulatory authorities in Uganda.

Tanzania has excelled in experimental trials of high yielding and disease resistant potato varieties under a climate smart agriculture programme aimed to improve food security.

The International Potato Center (CIP) and BlackPace Africa Group (BPA) executed a Technical and Scientific agreement to advance potato production in Africa, with focus on Rwanda.

Potato Research in Eritrea has come up with a suitable disease resistant variety. The farmers selected to test the new variety, called for distribution to all farmers.

Situated in the Northeast of Tanzania, the district of Lushoto is part of the so called highlands of Tanzania where potatoes are traditionally grown. Due to heat and lack of resilient potato varieties, farmers would often lose all the crop.

Potato growers in Tanzania stand to benefit from a new agreement between Netherlands and Tanzania, targeting to help farmers in the country boost the tubers production as well as being provided with potential market outlets abroad.

Farmers of Irish potatoes in Rwanda are decrying not only the shortage of quality seeds but also the mounting prices.

In Uganda, a series of field trials began in 2015 to assess whether twelve highly resistant GM plants of the ‘Desiree’ and local ‘Victoria’ variety provided by the International Potato Center CIP offer a durable resistance to late blight

The potato (Irish) that has fed the people of southwestern Uganda (Kabale) for generations is being threatened by several pests and diseases, including the potato bacterial wilt.