News on Food Trends from Africa

The Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resource Development Board (RAB) is conducting trials on new potato varieties that require no fungicide spraying

PepsiCo South Africa has expanded its Isando factory with a new state-of-the-art potato chip production line with ZAR 746 million (USD 40 million) investment.

As of 2024, the global refugee population has surged to 43.4 million, a significant increase from 41 million in 2010! Uganda, now hosting over 1.74 million refugees, has emerged as Africa’s largest and the world’s fifth-largest refugee host nation.

Las exportaciones desde Egipto afectan los mercados Europeos. La temporada 2025 parece no ralentizar la búsqueda del país africano por más y mejores mercados de exportación.

The variety release committee of the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) has recently announced that three of Solynta’s hybrid true potato varieties have been approved for distribution in Kenya.

Droughts and flooding have become so common in some of the poorest places on Earth that the land can no longer sustain crops, the director of the World Food Programme’s global office has said.

The lack of quality seed for improved varieties has been attributed to the limited capacity of seed multipliers to produce enough to meet farmer’s demands.

To combat hunger and malnutrition, the World Food Program (WFP) and the International Potato Center (CIP) have extended their partnership for a further four years with a new memorandum of understanding (MOU)

Following the success of Food Africa and pacprocess MEA last year, concrete plans to expand this year’s duo of trade fairs have begun. Here, exhibiting companies can expand their contacts in Africa and the Arab region in a targeted manner.

The International Potato Center (CIP) has collaborated with Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) to release the KC Sweet Purple variety of sweet potato in an effort to tackle ongoing climate challenges facing farmers in Kenya.

Tanzania and the Netherlands have agreed to collaborate on developing a joint roadmap for the thriving seed potato ecosystem.

There are concerns among some economists that the price of frozen potatoes may increase, adding to already high food inflation in South Africa.

World Potato Congress Inc. has announced that World Potato Congress 2026 will be held in Nairobi, Kenya. The theme for the event is 'Developing Global Potato Partnerships for Enhanced Food Systems, Food Security and International Trade'.

McCain Foods Limited, one of South Africa’s leading frozen food manufacturers, has officially opened its Farm of the Future Africa in Lichtenburg, North West, the second of three locations planned by 2025.

El obtentor de patatas y exportador de semillas holandés HZPC ha completado un ensayo de salinidad en Egipto con la cosecha organizada a finales de enero.

Solynta and PepsiCo’s Ethiopia-based Foods Unit, Senselet Food Processing PLC (Senselet), have launched a project to introduce hybrid true potato seeds (HTPS) to Ethiopia.

For the first time, food and agriculture systems have taken center stage in the global climate negotiations. COP27 has advanced the global recognition of food and agriculture as both a climate culprit and solution.

The Zimbabwe Potato Micro-propagation Association (ZPMA) has spearheaded the resuscitation of seed potato production since this stalled around 2008. The current mandate is to substitute imported seed potato.