Potato News from Africa

The triadic comparisons of technologies – or tricot – approach is being used in a citizen-science project funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB) to identify and scale up best cassava and potato varieties in Rwanda.

Anti-dumping tariffs on frozen French fries imported from the Netherlands and Germany have expired, leaving the South African potato industry vulnerable to ‘dumping’.

CIP and RAB are focusing their efforts in this area to release varieties that are high-yielding, pest and disease resistant, and climate-resilient.  But is this enough to overcome the low potato yields faced by Rwandan farmers?

The prolonged Covid-19 lockdown has brought more harm to potato production that any other crop being produced in Zimbabwe at the Agricultural Rural Development Authority (ARDA) Trek Antelope Estate in Maphisa, Matabeleland South.

The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) has commenced training for Irish potato farmers in Kano. The training which began on Monday, June 21, will end on Friday, June 25, 2021.

Potato cultivation has seen tremendous success in Sudan when productivity in some areas reached 28 tons an acre, like in the Alarqam Project of Western Omdurman here. The Meroe Dam Project (in Northern Sudan) has produced 20 tons per acre.

As a food security crop and cash crop, potato is a source of income for farmers, traders and sellers. In Kenya alone, potato creates employment for 2.5 million people along the value chain amounting to an estimated annual worth of USD 480 million.

Major fast-food joints rely on imports from as far as Egypt and South Africa for the potatoes they use for French fries.

Police in Nyandarua county have intercepted eight lorries carrying potatoes in extended bags contrary to the Crops (Irish Potatoes) Regulations 2019.

For decades, tobacco has been Malawi’s main foreign exchange earner. However, when he opened this year’s tobacco marketing season on Tuesday, president Lazarus Chakwera stunned his audience saying this industry is dying.

In Namibia, retailers and importing agents have spent NAD (Namibian Dollar) 120.1 million (USD 8.4 million) between 2019 and 2020 on importing washed potatoes to meet local demand.

Potatoes South Africa (PSA) has launched a bold new awareness campaign in a bid to create perspective about the resilience and performance of the potato industry’s stakeholders in the country, especially in the context of South Africa recently marking the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 disruption.

Kenya’s potato production could hit 2.5 million tonnes in 2021 up from the estimated 2 million tonnes produced in 2020, the industry said on Friday.

Kenya has applied for a Sh656 million grant from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to boost research on potato seed production and cut reliance on imports.

Managing plant health and strict water monitoring have paved the way to success for AL 3 Boerdery in Dendron, Limpopo.

McCain Foods South Africa has appointed Unathi Mhlatyana as its new managing director (MD) effective yesterday. Mhlatyana brings more than 20 years experience in the FMCG industry, having previously been employed in leadership roles with Pepsico and SAB/AB InBev.

Willie Jacobs took over the leadership of Potatoes Potatoes South Africa (PSA) as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) after Dr. André Jooste, who as part of his career planning, left the organization after 9 years.

Among the 152 isolates collected from symptomatic potato plants and tubers in different provinces in Algeria, 13 species of Fusarium and Neocosmospora were identified.