News on Potato Varieties and Seed from Africa

In Kenya, potatoes are a key staple food, second only to maize. Yet its potato value chain has been underdeveloped for decades also. This has been acknowledged by the Kenyan government.

The Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) has started testing True Potato Seeds, which are produced by Solynta, a Dutch firm that develops hybrid potatoes. True Potato Seeds are collected from the berries or fruits of the potato plant.

A trade delegation including Western Australian (WA) potato industry leaders toured Egypt in November, confirming the potential to export at least 10,000 tonnes of seed potatoes.

Rwanda needs about 35,000 tons of quality potato seeds to cover 25 percent of total cultivated land in each growing season. The targeted quantity to fill the existing gap is 60 percent despite persisting challenges.

During his presentation at the official opening of the 11th African Potato Congress in Kigali, Rwanda, World Potato Congress President Romain Cools announced the continuous effort of his organization to be a partner of the African potato sector.

Potato organizations on Monday called for deliberate efforts to increase potato and sweet potatoes production for sustainable nutritious food systems in Africa.

In an effort to combat diseases which have been hampering potato yields for the past two years in Dedza, International Potato Centre (CIP) recently handed over disease resistant Irish potato seeds to ten farmers in the district.

Despite being a trained accountant and currently pursuing a Bachelor in Commerce, James Gachiri had a desire to become a successful potato farmer.

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.

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.

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.