Potato is considered an emerging crops of high economic value cultivated in the highlands of Kabala, Koinadugu district in the northern region of Sierra Leone.
A conference paper from 2010 states:
Area under cultivation was small with majority of the farmers having less than 2 acres of the crop. The most common potato varieties used at the time of the survey were Nicolas, Resy and Ostra.The government of Sierra Leone has stated (undated) a commitment to increase the production of Irish potato in order to increase the food security in the country
Cultivation of potato was done during the coolest period in Sierra Leone which falls between December and January referred to as the harmattan season. The lowland ecology was mostly preferred by due to easy access to water.
Diseases of economic importance included the Late blight and the potato virus. Incidence and severity of late blight was high and increased with time while symptom expression of potato virus was fairly constant throughout the growing season.
Among the two varieties evaluated Nicolas expressed higher degree of resistance to late blight as well as potato virus. Yield estimate were extremely low ranging from 2.6 t/ha to 4 t/ha.
