1. Risk of Uncontrolled
Importation of Seed Potato
from Europe to East and
Central Africa: What are the
policy options?
W. Kaguongo, I. Rwomushana, I. Kashaija, S. Ntizo & J. Kabira
NATIONAL POTATO COUNCIL OF KENYA
9th APA Conference held on 30th June- 4th July 2013, at Naivasha,
Kenya

2. Authors
• Wachira Kaguongo
• National Potato Council of Kenya (NPCK), Nairobi, Kenya
• Ivan Rwomushana
• Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in
Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), Entebbe, Uganda
• Imelda Kashaija
• National Agricultural Research Organization, Entebbe,
Uganda
• Semkesha Ntizo
• Rwanda Agricultural Board (RAB), Kigali, Rwanda
• Jackson Kabira
• Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, National Potato
Research Centre (KARI‐Tigoni), Nairobi, Kenya

3. Introduction
• Potato is an imp. food & cash crop in ECA
• Its importance continues to rise:
• urbanization, changing eating habits & uptake of
processed potato products (chips, crisps).
• widely grown in ECA
– ranked among 10 strategic staple crops in the region
– ranked 2nd after maize in Kenya
• Mainly grown by smallholders (>90%) with
0.25‐ 5ha
• Over 89 varieties introduced in the region

4. Introduction cont..
• It is a strategic crop for poverty alleviation
• provides income & employment in production to
consumption continuum
• it’s potential as food, nutritional & income
security crop is yet to be fully exploited
• Yields have declined by 11% until recently
– A huge gap exists between on‐farm potato yields,
(<10 t/ha) and yields under improved growing
circumstances (40‐60 t/ha)
• Over 25t/ ha that can be attained by a progressive farmer
under rain fed conditions
• Over 50 t/ha can be attained under intensive farming
• Egypt = 26 t/ha, SA =35 t/ha

5. Key shortcomings in potato
subsector
• Poor quality seed is viewed as a major
yield‐limiting factor
• certified and disease‐free seed tubers account for <5%
• Own‐saved tubers is over 90%
– Past studies indicate that over 70% of farmer fields in
region are infected by bacterial wilt
• Past focus has been on high yielding and
disease resistance traits
• Lack of processing & heat tolerant varieties
• Limited investment in processing industry
• Limited market for farmers

6. Recent Seed Potato Interventions
• Successful interventions in the region
– aimed at increasing production, availability & use of
high quality seed potatoes in the region
• under NPCK, CIP, MoA, KARI, KENFAP, KENAPOFA
• funded by CFC, USAID, GIZ‐PSDA, ASARECA
• Projects technologies & initiatives include:
• Rapid seed multiplication techniques (aeroponics,
hydroponics)
• Low cost seed multiplication method (Seed‐plot)
• Own seed improvement methods‐ Positive/negative seed
selection
• Quality declared seed (“Clean” seed)

7. Intervention limitations
• The success of these interventions is limited by:
• Inadequate supportive policies & regulations:
– recognition & streamlining of prodn & distribution of
mini‐tubers and QDS
– Protocols on certification, NPT & import procedures
• Institutional limitations of the actors & players
– Lack of necessary laboratory equip., supplies &
technical skills
– Overstretched quality control agencies
– Wide adoption of unreleased variety=not in cert. schm
• Inadequate funding of the seed subsector
– These shortcomings affect efficiency of certification
process & attractiveness of seed production
enterprise

8. Seed and variety import as
an alternative initiative
• The Netherlands project is an example:
– aims at importing seed potatoes & new
varieties in tuber forms
– Targeting Kenya & other regional countries
• Project challenge‐
– Goes against existing laws & regulations
• In Kenya‐ the plant protection act, Cap 324 & The
seeds & plant varieties act, cap 326)
– Project agreement is controversial ‐partners
– PRA ‐not credible & stakeholders not involved
– No seed potato importation protocols

9. What are the risks posed by
Seed and variety import?
• Local potato production risks collapse
from such imports thro‐
– Introduction of foreign diseases & pest
• Dicheya ssp, Late blight mating type 2, Bacterial
Ring Rot, Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) etc
• Diseases are more virulent under tropical cdns
– Vulnerability of our farming systems
• More pesticides used‐high cost & health hazards
• Need to protect farmers, consumers & industry
– Fails to consider local seed producers/ traders
• Dev. of local seed industry is not in the agenda

10. Characteristics of Some
“foreign” diseases
• Dickeya spp.
• Gram‐negative bacteria, the causal agent of slow
wilt & blackleg
• Dangerous seed‐born disease‐ cause heavy loses
• Has been passed from Holland to other countries
in latent form‐Isreal, Germany etc
• Necrotic & recombinant strains of Potato
virus Y (PVY)
– in Europe and North America
– a strains of PVY capable of causing severe necrotic
symptoms on potato tubers
– The aphid vectors of this virus are present in Kenya

11. How does import pose risk?
• Conventional testing mthd‐not foolproof:
• Sampling 200 tubers out of 6 tonnes
– Statistically you needs at least a 1.5% infection level to
be 95% confident of picking up a disease in a 200 tuber
sample
– Meaning infections <1.5% could slip through
• There is no official post‐harvest testing
programme
• No Dickeya spp.‐specific control measures & no
compulsory testing in operation
• PRA allows ban on imports for phytosanitary
reasons based on sound evidence (USA & Chaina
have banned imports of live tubers)

12. What are the viable options
for the region?
• Supportive policies that facilitate growth
of local industries in the region
• Uptake of innovations & technologies that
enhance production of seed potato locally
• Facilitate introduction & adoption of processing
varieties & other specialized varieties
• Involve stakeholders in evaluation, analysis & any
change in policy & regulations of seed import
• Characterization & indexing of farmer varieties in
order to release & certify them
– Open quarantine allowed as stopgap measure
• When local phytosanitary capacity is satisfactory

13. Recommendations
• Potato subsector development plans
• Adopt harmonized ECA seed standards
– Create seamless trade in the region
– Enhancing Variety Property Rights
» Attract investment by multi‐national seed companies
• Create partnerships that develop local ind.
• Agreements with mutual benefits
• Conduct credible PRAs that involve
experts & stakeholders in the industry
• Where necessary conduct remedial measures as it
is done in European countries

14. Recommendations cont….
• Capacity build local regulatory bodies &
other subsector institutions
• Streamline seed certification processes
• Attract more private sector & increase seed
production
• Budgetary support for the potato seed
subsector
• Regional countries should declare potato
special crop and prioritize the crop
• Protection of the crop & increased donor support

15. References
– Elphinstone, J. and I.Toth. (2007). Erwinia chrysanthemi (Dickeya
spp.)The Facts.
– Sarris PF, Trantas E, Pagoulatou M, Stavrou D, Ververidis F, Goumas
DE, 2011. First report of potato blackleg caused by biovar 3 Dickeya
sp.
– Toth,I. K., J. M. van der Wolf, G. Saddler, E. Lojkowska, V. He lias, M.
Pirhonen, L. Tsror (Lahkim) and J. G. Elphinston (2011) Dickeya
species: an emerging problem for potato production in Europe.
– Tsror L. (Lahkim), O. Erlich, M. Hazanovsky, B. Ben Daniel, U. Zig and
S. Lebiush (2011). Detection of Dickeya spp. latent infection in
potato seed tubers using PCR or ELISA and correlation with disease
incidence in commercial field crops under hot‐climate conditions.
– Were HK, J Kabira, ZM Kinyua, FM Olubayo, B Imbuaga, J Karinga, J
Aura , AK Lees GH Cowan & L Torranced A survey of potato pests
and diseases in five major potato growing areas in Kenya

16. Thank You