News on Potato Varieties and Seed from Africa

Kenyan farmers are facing a shortage of certified seed potatoes following the rejection of 78 percent of the planting materials that had been imported last year.

An acute shortage of potatoes has hit Nyandarua County, a top producer of potatoes in Kenya and in fact, the entire country is suffering from a shortage.

Restaurants in Kenya are reeling from an acute shortage of Irish potatoes with the Agriculture ministry putting the supply gap at 1.7 million metric tonnes.

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 Algerian Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries Abdelkader Bouazghi said that Algeria would stop the import of seed potatoes in 2021

Recently, a new box storage system installed by Mooij Agro in Algeria at Agrico Algérie was inaugurated in the presence of the Dutch Ambassador in Algeria, Mr. Robert van Embden and the local governor.

The county Nyandarua in Kenya has received a Sh116 million (€1 million; USD 1.16 million) grant from the European Union to boost potato farming.

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.

Based on extensive trials (two years, three separate farms, ten potato varieties) in a joint effort of AHDB, James Hutton Ltd, SASA and Seeds2B Africa (part of the Syngenta Foundation) three GB potato varieties have been recommended for release in Kenya.

In Rwanda, the Ministry of Agriculture and partners have pledged to establish modern seed potato warehouses and greenhouses to ensure the supply of quality seed potatoes.

Pepsico's joint venture in Egypt, Chipsy For Food Industries SAE, announced a major agricultural programme to produce all seed potatoes locally.

Senegal expects to produce 150,000 tons of potatoes this year. This represents an increase by 32,000 tons compared to last year.

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.

Seed Potatoes sent out to Kenya from Great Britain has performed strongly on three Kenyan trial sites.

Seed potato farmers in Kenya’s potato growing regions are adopting a new technology with potential to boost quality seed availability: the farmers are using rooted apical cuttings as starter material for seed production as opposed to certified seed.

New potato varieties are needed in Rwanda to meet the current market demands. Nevertheless, the potato variety Kinigi is still favorite among farmers as well as in the community of potato consumers.

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