News on Energy and Environment from Africa

Imagine being a potato farmer in Ethiopia, Kenya, or Nigeria. On a small piece of land, which you depend on for food and income, you have spent months planting, weeding, and watering.

The Wageningen Research Foundation (WR), being subsidised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality in the context of the Policy Support 'Sustainable agricultural development in a food system approach' published a study on the potato value chain in Morocco.

Irish potatoes have prevented another major humanitarian food crisis in one of the poorest and most remote parts of Ethiopia, according to aid organization Concern Worldwide.

To deal with climate pressures, potato growers in Kenya are turning to contract farming to earn more money and get better seed.

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.

Pascal Murasira, co-founder and managing partner of Rwanda-based Hollanda FairFoods, tells about the opportunities and challenges for his company that manufactures potato chips under the brand name Winnaz.

Drought and hot conditions since September 2015 have a negative impact on yields in almost all the potato production regions in South Africa. Currently market prices are at the highest levels ever, while potato stock levels are at record low levels.

Semagn-Asredie Kolech, a Cornell doctoral candidate in the field of horticulture, studies the potato and bridges the tradition of Ethiopian farming with the modernity of agricultural science.

Cutting food waste went a notch higher on Tuesday evening as world ministers were treated to a feast of Kenyan foodstuff rejected by UK supermarkets.

Climate change could result in a positive outcome for the potato industry and possibly lead to potatoes becoming one of the top staple crops in the world