Browsing: EAC potato value-chain platform

Potatoes Africa
  • The average potato yield in Sub-Saharan Africa stands at 7.8 tonnes per hectare.
  • This is too low compared with India at 23.7 metric tonnes per hectare and a global average of about 21 tonnes.
  • Whereas many African countries with vast agricultural potential import the crop, Egypt is an exception.

With the exception of Egypt and South Africa, the continent is a net importer of common food crops including potatoes despite the huge potential of many countries to grow the tuber that can tackle Africa's food crisis.

Grown in over 125 countries and consumed by at least a billion people every day, potatoes are arguably one of the world's most important root crops.

According to FAO, the average potato yield in Sub-Saharan Africa stands at 7.8 tonnes per hectare. This is too low compared with India at 23.7 metric tonnes per hectare and a global average of about 21 tonnes. Data…

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This platform aims to harness the potential of the potato value chain in the region to enable proper production and commercialization of the food crop on the realization that it is one of the key agricultural produce traded and consumed widely.  Over 2.2 million farmers across the EAC partner states earn their living from the potato sector.  

The Jumuiya Potato Platform has now been formalized under a Public-Private Partnership structure to enable sustainable research, innovation and free trade right from the potato seed. 

The Potato Platform has been arrived at after a series of engagements between stakeholders representing national governments on the public front, farmers and traders on the private side with guidance from the EAC Secretariat and the EABC. Facilitated by GIZ, the stakeholders launched Jumuiya Potato Platform after a two-day regional meeting held in Kampala. …

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