EAST AFRICA POTATO
VALUE CHAIN KNOWLEDGE
SHARING PORTAL

In a paper published in Advances in Food Security and Sustainability, researchers found that farmers in East Africa (Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda) were able to better adapt to the impact of COVID-19 than those in the Southern African countries of Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

These regional differences, the researchers said, could largely be explained by the difference in arrival times of lock-down measures, access and adoption of technology and cultural differences in adapting to the new situation.

There was a public outcry last week against the American fast-food franchise Kentucky Fries and Chicken (KFC).

The furore that was channelled through social media, with the hashtag BoycottKFC trending on Twitter, was inflamed by a KFC tweet on Monday that it had run out of potato chips.

‘Insensitive’ is the word that the Governor of Nyandarua County Francis Kimemia used to describe the statement by KFC. This is because thousands of farmers continue to struggle with an oversupply of potatoes.

The ADAPT Project, with a total budget of 5 million Euro funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No GA 2020 862-858, will determine the molecular and phenotypical responses of potatoes to combined environmental stress conditions such as heat, drought and flooding, which are becoming increasingly important for potato yield under the challenging growth conditions of the future due to climate change.