Construction Potato Tissue Culture Lab in Plateau State, Nigeria started

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 tissue culture lab is intended to improve potato yields in the Plateau State by providing clean seed.

Speaking at the ground-breaking, he said that African Development Bank (AfDB) granted a facility of about $3.38 million to the state government to boost the state’s great potentials in the mass production of Irish Potatoes for export.

According to him, the laboratory would address the problem of low-yielding potato varieties and provide good quality seed. He addressed the fact that output of potato production in the state was greatly reduced over the years due to the occurrence of potato blight and degenerated seeds.