Potato News from Africa

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.

Victoria - a popular local potato variety in Uganda - is extremely susceptible to potato Late Blight disease, but a resistant GM version of this variety has been developed.
With testing almost complete, it is up to the government biosafety regulatory authorities in Uganda.

Based on extensive trials (two years, three separate farms, ten potato varieties) in a joint effort of AHDB, James Hutton Ltd, SASA and Seeds2B Africa (part of the Syngenta Foundation) three GB potato varieties have been recommended for release in Kenya.

Potato farmers in Nyandarua (Kenya) have approved regulations for Irish potatoes production, handling and marketing.

In Rwanda, the Ministry of Agriculture and partners have pledged to establish modern seed potato warehouses and greenhouses to ensure the supply of quality seed potatoes.

According to reports from Zimbabwe, Pepsico is considering a snack plant (Chips and Snacks) in the region consisting of the countries Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana.

Russia has agreed to ease a ban on potato exports from eight farming areas in Egypt, allowing shipments to resume from June 6.

Los agricultores de las regiones productoras de papa en Kenia están aprendiendo a cosechar éxitos gracias a un programa financiado por USAID: Desarrollo Acelerado de la Cadena de Valor para Alimentar el Futuro (AVCD por sus siglas en inglés).

Pepsico's joint venture in Egypt, Chipsy For Food Industries SAE, announced a major agricultural programme to produce all seed potatoes locally.

Russia’s agricultural quarantine authorities flagged two potato shipments imported from Egypt that were found to be contaminated with potato brown rot.

Senegal expects to produce 150,000 tons of potatoes this year. This represents an increase by 32,000 tons compared to last year.

Tanzania has excelled in experimental trials of high yielding and disease resistant potato varieties under a climate smart agriculture programme aimed to improve food security.

Seed Potatoes sent out to Kenya from Great Britain has performed strongly on three Kenyan trial sites.

Seed potato farmers in Kenya’s potato growing regions are adopting a new technology with potential to boost quality seed availability: the farmers are using rooted apical cuttings as starter material for seed production as opposed to certified seed.

New potato varieties are needed in Rwanda to meet the current market demands. Nevertheless, the potato variety Kinigi is still favorite among farmers as well as in the community of potato consumers.

The Hollanda Fair Foods potato processing plant in Rwanda, which produces the Winnaz Crisps brand, is set to scale up its chips production capacity five-fold.

To deal with climate pressures, potato growers in Kenya are turning to contract farming to earn more money and get better seed.