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SPUDSMART.COM INTERNATIONAL EDITION 201514 A Bright Future Potatoes are emerging as a staple crop in areas of East Africa and are offering farmers in the region a promising and increasingly profitable alternative to grain crops. BY MARK HALSALL AND JULIENNE ISAACS ANN MBUGUA is a ware potato grower in East Africa who for a long time had struggled to find somewhere to buy high-quality potato seed near her farm in the Kenyan village of Muchorwe. Things turned around a few years ago when she attended a seminar on potato seed and immediately saw the potential for building her own profitable seed potato operation. Anns decision to start a seed potato business made a world of difference on her farm. Together with her husband Simon Mbugua she now grows 30 acres of certified Irish potato seed that is increasingly in demand within Kenya by non-governmental organizations farmer groups and individual farmers in her region. Varieties they grow include Kenya Mpya Sherehekea Kenya Karibu Purple Gold and New Sangi a Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute variety. The future is bright as there is demand for certified and clean potato seed says Anns daughter Rosemary Mbugua who is currently completing a Masters in Agriculture and Applied Economics at Egerton University the premier agricultural university in Kenya. The business is growing as more and more farmers are becoming aware of the need to use good quality seeds. Most of them buy after their harvest does well. Rosemary does small-scale ware potato production in addition to her studies and also helps out her parents with business advice. She believes the market for potato seed will continue to expand. Farmers are now very knowledgeable on the importance of using certified seed and the Government of Kenya recognizes the importance and potential of potatoes she says and there have been campaigns to increase food production and increase sustainability which is in line with Kenyas Vision 2030. Vision 2030 is Kenyas stated goal to create a globally competitive and prosperous nation with a high quality of life by 2030. Peter VanderZaag is a prominent Canadian potato scientist and grower whos also a board member at the International Potato Center CIP and a member of the International Advisory Committee of the World Potato Congress. He says potatoes are becoming an increasingly important food crop in Kenya which currently grows close to 400000 acres of potatoes. VanderZaag has plenty of first-hand experience with potato cultivation in Africa at one time he was employed by CIP in Central Africa. He visited East Africa for several weeks in 2013 attending the African Potato Association conference in Kenya and also touring operations in Ethiopia and Kenya where Canadian Foodgrains Bank and CIP have ongoing projects. What I have to admire about all the highlands of East Africa from Ethiopia down to Malawi including Uganda Rwanda Burundi Tanzania and Kenya is that theyre all very self-sufficient potato-producing countries says VanderZaag. They dont import much seed. The varieties are uniquely adapted to their environment with heavy Potato farmer surveying her flowering field in Ethopia. PHOTO INTERNATIONAL POTATO CENTER.