New seed technology increases yields and incomes – International Potato Center

“It’s a win-win situation” continues Parker. “From a tiny little trial with the national program, now we are creating opportunities for businesses here in Kenya, including young and women entrepreneurs in rural communities. These businesses are also the means to reach our end goal – getting quality seed to farmers. Right now, we have around 50 successful businesses producing seeds that are reaching and benefitting 5,000 farmers. It is amazing to think that one tissue culture plantlet can deliver around 2,000 seed tubers.” 

From the screenhouse to the nursery to the farm 

“It is not just about producing the cuttings, it is also about using them to produce,” explains Dinah Borus, a senior research associate with CIP. “Apical cuttings have the potential to reduce the potato productivity gap but only if farmers can access seed, and even use cuttings directly. The first step was to get seed producers to try them, validate the technology, and help spread the word.” 

“Rural farmers are buying cuttings directly from rural nurseries to produce their own seed on farm thereby reducing their seed costs by half if they multiply the seed once and by five-fold if they multiply the seed twice,” says Parker. “This model creates another option for farmers to access seed.”

Sprouting new business shoots 
Much of the success for this innovative approach is owed to a successful engagement with two private sector partners: Stokman Rozen Kenya and AgroMax (Uganda).

“Rooted apical cuttings are innovative, cost-effective, and easy to adopt,” says Ronyjo Oved, the CEO for Agromax. “It opens new horizons to the potato industry in Uganda and will enable us to expand our operations to serve farmers outside the country.”

The impact on rural livelihoods has been immediate. “I started with a 50-kilogram bag of seed potatoes, and I saw my yield increase by 280%,” says farmer-turned-seed producer, Cecinta Nduru. “Then I took training to produce my own clean seed from cuttings. Now I make a good living selling seed in my community and I am training other farmers on how to become seed producers.”

Looking ahead
The apical rooted cuttings program is starting to scale out in India, where it has the potential to reach millions of farmers and help potato farming reach its true potential for the millions who depend on it for food and livelihoods.  

Potato pathogens, like late potato blight disease, cost developing countries USD 10 billion every year annually and reduce the amount of food available to eat. Getting disease-resistant and water-stress tolerant varieties to farmers is the first line of defense against global challenges like malnutrition and climate change, and central to the new research and innovation strategy of CGIAR. For potato, there is now an extra tool in the arsenal – rooted apical cuttings.