News on Potato Varieties and Seed from Africa

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.

Social impact investor and project developer AGDEVCO has invested in a US$4.5 million partnership with Saise Farming Enterprises Limited (SFEL) to produce potato seed for smallholder farmers in Northern Province of Zambia.

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 Dutch Embassy in Kenya will next week launch the Potato Value Chain Africa website at the Eldoret Agri-Trade Fair, in a bid to support farmers in the country.

Kenya loses Sh19 billion annually due to poor production and processing of potatoes, a 2014 study has revealed.

The Nyandarua government is partnering with the National Potato Council and German organisation GTZ to introduce varieties of potatoes suitable for processing

Nakuru will test and release (late blight resistant) varieties of potato seeds for small-scale farmers, Agriculture executive Dr Stanley Chepkwony has said.

Some 300 Irish potato farmers in Cameroon received 30 tonnes of quality Irish potato seeds and farm inputs to improve production and productivity.

The private sector has been urged to invest in Rwanda's Irish potato production so as to address the shortage and help prevent price fluctuations.

Under a bilateral deal with lead potato seed producer the Netherlands, the government has cleared four new potato seed varieties for use by local farmers.

Scientists in Uganda will soon start confined trials of genetically modified strains of Irish potato designed to be resistant to Phytophthora infestans, the fungus that causes potato blight, now devastating the crop in the west of the country.

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.

A recent case study by the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) showcases a new effort to produce high quality seed potatoes for farmers in Tanzania.

A CIP project in Kenya and other African nations is fostering private adoption of a three-generation seed multiplication strategy. Combined with improved knowledge and skills the project should lead to average yield increases of 20%.

“The timely availability of seed of well-adapted varieties will enhance the sustainability and economics of potato production in Mozambique,” notes CIP’s Maria Andrade, breeder and seed system specialist. Mozambique released seven new potato varieties...

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