Potato News from Uganda

Potato farmers in Kabale District, Uganda are elated following the commissioning of Muhingi Products Factory which is hoped to create added value addition for both sweet potato and Irish potato produce.

Imagine being a potato farmer in Ethiopia, Kenya, or Nigeria. On a small piece of land, which you depend on for food and income, you have spent months planting, weeding, and watering.

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.

District Agricultural officers in Uganda have been urged to embrace Irish potato tissue culture so as to improve the quality and quantity of Irish potato production, which is one of the best foods to fight hunger.

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 first production plant for French Fries in Uganda was commissioned last Friday and will provide opportunities for potato farmers in three countries: Uganda, Rwanda and Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo

Plans by Kenya to import Irish potatoes from the Netherlands have got agricultural experts worried, with some warning that it could bring a more virulent form of late blight to the region.

Farmers in the Kigezi sub-region will benefit from a Uganda Development Bank initiative that seeks to add value to their potatoes before they are put on the market.

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.

Potatoes are not widely grown in Uganda but they could earn a farmer big if the right farming methods and good prices are in place. Nathan Baryahisahe, the chairman of the Muko Expanded Irish Potato Producers Association says they now have 161 members...

Kisoro district (Uganda) is to get tea and Irish potato processing factories. President Yoweri Museveni made the pledge on Tuesday during a Prosperity-for-All campaign tour in the district.   Kisoro is the biggest producer of Irish potatoes in the coun...

A viral potato disease could jeopardise livelihood in a south western district of Uganda as crops quality and quantity have began dropping. The virus is spread by insect vectors and through human contact from plant to plant. The virus can also be tran...