According to the most recent Annual Report from the international Potato Centre, Kenya is a good model for potato and sweet potato seed systems in Africa. This model will offer lessons to feed a growing population as climate change continues to disrupt agricultural production in the food-starved continent.
The annual report for 2021 dubbed "lab to field to scale: Demand-driven solutions for food system transformation" says potato and sweet potato produce more calories per hectare. "The two crops take less time from planting to harvest than most crops, giving them the enormous potential to improve incomes and food and nutrition security," states the report. However, the report notes that few farmers in sub-Saharan Africa achieve that potential, due primarily to pests and diseases spread by infected tubers or vine cuttings.
Potato is Kenya's second most important staple crop after maize, grown by more than 800,000 growers. It provides food for nearly four million households and supports an additional two million in the value chain.
The country's annual potato production is worth more than Sh51 billion, and smallholders are responsible for 83 per cent of it, but average yields of 6-10 tons of potatoes per hectare are holding most of them back. To overcome this challenge, new technologies have been promoted to accelerate production, such as aeroponics and rooted apical cuttings.
Source: nation.africa