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SPUDSMART.COM INTERNATIONAL EDITION 201516 late blight pressure so therefore they have their own system with their own seed and varieties. Theyre primarily landlocked countries. It would be unfeasible to try to import seed. While in Kenya VanderZaag stopped by Mbuguas operation and was impressed by the dynamism of both the business and Mbuguas approach to it. Its energy like this he says that makes the future bright for potato cultivation in Kenya. FOOD SECURITY IN ETHIOPIA In Ethiopia the potato is also growing in importance as a staple crop. Historically the chief crop across the country has been Eragrostis tef or teff a species of lovegrass native to the Ethiopian highlands. But according to VanderZaag there isnt enough teff produced nationally to feed the Ethiopian population. According to VanderZaag If you do the math with teff they get less than a tonne of dry matter per hectare that would be equivalent to a harvest of five tonnes of potatoes per hectare. You easily double and even triple production of food per hectare with potatoes. Potatoes are easy to prepare he adds.Teff takes a lot of threshing and storing so the economics and even the production of dry matter of food and quality carbohydrate and protein is much better for potato than from teff. According to VanderZaag theres been a shift to more potato production in Ethiopia over the last 20 to 30 years. Potato is becoming a secondary staple food for most of the rural poor in the highland areas of Ethiopia. Everything to the west of Addis Ababa is highlands and its very good for potatoes he says. The Canadian Foodgrains Bank plays an important Food Security role in Ethiopia in part by helping to restore badly eroding landscapes through terracing and erosion prevention measures ensuring that the poor farmers have adequate productive acreage to have enough to eat while CIP is working on increasing awareness of the importance of seed quality and improved varieties. Presently there isnt a great deal of crop diversification on display in Ethiopia which has a predominantly pastoral society where animals are very important. Cattle are kept in the valleys while primarily teff is grown on the hills and potatoes and other vegetable crops are grown in small garden patches near homes partly to protect them from theft. In the long term VanderZaag believes potato cultivation will increase on the rocky hills but it will require improved crop inputs such as fertilizer. The biggest hurdle facing Ethiopian potato growers however is the same challenge faced by Ann Mbugua in Kenya access to high-quality disease-free seed. CIP is focusing on developing strategies to help East African farmers in this respect. Successful potato farming starts with healthy seed potatoes however farmers in Africa rarely have access to high quality seed potato. The traditional highly centralized and inefficient public seed multiplication systems have failed to provide sufficient and affordable planting material to small holder farmers says Elmar Schulte-Geldermann leader of CIPs Seed Potato for Africa program. It is the link to the decentralized seed multipliers farmers like the Ann Mbugua Sammy Sang and Christine Nashuru in Kenya and the Jeldu and Chenca seed potato co-operatives in Ethiopia only to mention a few who have taken on serious seed production and make the difference towards sustainable seed quality improvement at local and eventually national levels. For countries as Ethiopia and Kenya partnerships with international groups such as CIP and Canadian Foodgrains Bank will continue to be important but these really exist as a support to the innovation and resilience that already thrives in East Africa. Potatoes being sold along a roadside in Kenya. PHOTO PETER VANDERZAAG.