BOLD
The Perfect Fry: Breeding Potato Varieties to Satisfy the Market
Chips, French fries, pomme frites, or fries za kifaransa in Swahili. Whatever you call them, fried potatoes are among the world's most popular foods. It’s no different in Nakuru, Kenya.
At the Nakuru market, Rada Mwati stands...
19 Jun 2026
The Risk of One Potato: Shangi and the Challenge of Diversity in Kenya
In the bustling potato markets of Kenya, one name reigns supreme – Shangi. This single variety is so dominant that it currently commands 60 to 70% of the country’s total potato production. For the 800,000 smallholder farmers who...
15 Jun 2026
CGIAR: Cryo Vault Opens Its Doors to National Partners
The CGIAR has taken a major step forward in the long-term conservation of crops that cannot be stored as seed, as Ecuador becomes the first country to deposit material in the new Cryopreservation Vault at the International Potato...
10 Jun 2026
How Wild Potato Genes Can Help East African Farmers Beat the ‘Chemical Tax’
For many smallholder farmers in the tropical highlands of East Africa, the dream of a bountiful potato harvest is increasingly overshadowed by a ‘chemical tax.’ Disease pressure keeps farmers trapped in a costly cycle – spraying...
5 Jun 2026
Sweetpotato Leaves à la Singida
The sun is barely up when I meet Jasmin Salum in her family’s irrigated plot in Mumbivi, a small village just outside Singida in central Tanzania. The air is cool, still holding the last traces of night. The only sound is the...
3 Jun 2026
The Genetic Memory of the Potato: How Andean Diversity Shapes New Varieties for East African Farms
While there are many ways to prepare them, modern potatoes are bred from a relatively narrow genetic pool. And yet, the diseases attacking potatoes continue to evolve. In East Africa’s highland potato fields, breeders and farmers...
28 May 2026
From Inner Mongolian Fields to Wild Sunflowers to the Crop Trust
I grew up in a multi-ethnic community in the suburbs of a town in Inner Mongolia, in northern China. My grandmother is a farmer and has had a great influence on me. She often takes me back to the village where she grew up and...
6 Mar 2026
Before We Lose Them: Securing the Future of Coffee and Cacao at CATIE
Coffee and chocolate are among the world’s most cherished indulgences. Yet behind every cup and every bar lies a vulnerable biological foundation that millions of livelihoods depend on.
An estimated 125 million people worldwide...
16 Jan 2026
The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT: Gap Analysis
In times of climate crisis and accelerated biodiversity loss, genetic conservation is an investment in resilience. Every seed stored in a genebank represents a possibility for adaptation for future generations. Unfortunately,...
11 Dec 2025
Five Ways Africa’s Opportunity Crops Can Shape the Future of Food
Africa’s population is set to double by 2050, with cities absorbing most of that growth. At the same time, diets are changing, climate shocks are intensifying and policies still favor a few major crops. Against this backdrop,...
9 Dec 2025
A BOLD Attempt to Adapt Barley to the Most Remote Regions of Tunisia
With temperatures rising and rainfall becoming scarcer in Tunisia, more farmers will turn to drought-tolerant barley to sustain both their households and their herds.
A hailstorm swept across Tunisia’s Kef region and wiped out an...
5 Dec 2025











