News on The Potato Supply Chain from Africa

The administrative authorities of the Condé municipality, in the coastal Cuanza Sul province, are working to acquire potato seeds in order to increase the potato production in the region.

Algerian potato exporters are still having trouble at the border crossing Tebessa between Algeria and Tunisia. Tunisian customs do not allow trucks carrying tons of potatoes to enter Tunisia although all the legal procedures are completed.

The Nyandarua county Government (Kenya) has entered into a partnership with the German Government to help boost its potato production.

Members of the Namibian Potato and Onion Producers Association (Popa) recently met at Tsumeb to elect a new board.

Kenya is set to launch new varieties of potatoes that will boost quality and yield.

Potato growers in Tanzania stand to benefit from a new agreement between Netherlands and Tanzania, targeting to help farmers in the country boost the tubers production as well as being provided with potential market outlets abroad.

Although potato cultivation in Guinea is still very limited, production is expanding, just as in many other African countries.

Sonac, an Egyptian potato grower, packer and exporter based in Alexandria is about to finish its potato season. However, according to Export Manager Dalia Gamal, the current situation of the potato sector isn’t as good as it should be.

Social impact investor and project developer AGDEVCO has invested in a US$4.5 million partnership with Saise Farming Enterprises Limited (SFEL) to produce potato seed for smallholder farmers in Northern Province of Zambia.

Potato farmers in Nyabihu district in Rwanda are at crossroads after a factory recently built in their region has failed to buy all their potatoes.

Farmers of Irish potatoes in Rwanda are decrying not only the shortage of quality seeds but also the mounting prices.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) potato value chain project that will boost potato farming will commence in the State Plateau (Nigeria) soon.

Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fishing Sid Ahmed Ferroukhi stressed Thursday in Algiers that potato exports will continue during the three upcoming years to reach 70,000 tons.

Potato tubers are affected by a number of blemishes, which can cause severe economic losses. This 'Focus on Potato' presentation by Jacquie van der Waals, Professor at the University of Pretoria in South Africa can serve as a guide for growers and others in the potato industry to help with identification of these blemishes.

The fast expansion of cities and towns and the popularity of fast foods have created a rapidly increasing demand for potatoes in Kenya.

In Rwanda a new potato processing plant was opened, with the capacity to produce four potato products; chips, french fries, whole peeled potato, and whole cleaned potatoes for sale to super markets and schools.

You can now join the East Africa Potato Value Chain Knowledge Sharing Portal, which aims to address the scientific and technological divide in the field of agricultural value-chain innovations by enabling East African research organizations to create, update and use scientific knowledge and technological innovations.

Researchers from the University of Nairobi, the International Potato Centre (CIP) and others ave started a pilot project in Tanzania, where a drone was able to pinpoint 14 different varieties of sweet potatoes in Ukiriguru Research Institute in Mwanza.