Potato News from Africa

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.

Free smartphone app Nuru helps African potato farmers to detect late blight (Phytophthora) and early blight (Alternaria) since 2021

After several years of self-sufficiency, Algeria will start importing potatoes again. The reason is that the prices of this basic product have soared on the market, in some areas exceeding 140 dinars (about USD 0.096) per kilogram.

With potato production in East Africa under increasing threat from the invasive and highly destructive potato cyst nematode (PCN) pest, an organic technology developed from banana plant waste material may well be the ultimate rescue.

The potato industry in South Africa is investing in various technologies to improve its sustainability and is in the process of developing a mobile app to improve communication with members.

Sources revealed to Al-Mal that 131 thousand tons of potato seeds arrived from European facilities approved for import from last October until early January, for 76 approved varieties.

Droughts have long posed a threat to farmers in southern Africa, and models predict they will become more frequent, unpredictable, and intense as global warming continues.

The Savannah Agriculture Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research [CSIR – SARI] has introduced new varieties of the ‘Frafra’ potato crop to farmers in the Talensi and Nabdam districts of the Upper East Region.

Mustapha Baba Shehuri, minister of state for agriculture and rural development, says Nigeria will be among the world’s top three potato producing countries by 2025.

Potato farmers in Rwanda are counting their losses, claiming that they are selling their produce at 'giveaway' prices, despite the cost remaining high on the market.

Potato tuber moth can be a potato producer’s nightmare. Fortunately, InteliGro’s extremely effective monitoring system not only help to control this pest successfully but allows producers to manage risks and reduce input costs over time.

Patrick Makuzwa has approached the High Court seeking an order canceling his contract with Cairns Foods and for the food company to compensate him to the value of USD 46 789 50.

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.