Wild Potatoes Offer New Options for East African Farmers

27 October 2026

Potatoes are Kenya’s second most important staple after maize, supporting 3.3 million jobs and contributing around USD 324 million to the economy each year. Yet heat, unpredictable rainfall, pests and diseases threaten production. Late blight destroys around a third of potato yields worldwide, while potato cyst nematodes can cut yields by up to 80%.

Wild relatives from South America offer breeders valuable traits to tackle these challenges. The Crop Trust is partnering with the International Potato Center (CIP) to turn that potential into potatoes that East African farmers can grow and sell. 

A new phase of the Crop Trust’s Biodiversity for Opportunities, Livelihoods and Development (BOLD) project, led by CIP, is  connecting conservation with use. The project is moving crop diversity held in genebanks through breeding, testing and seed production towards farmers’ fields. In Kenya, 54 promising potato materials will advance through testing for disease resistance and heat tolerance. Between 500 and 1,000 farmers will participate, more than half of them women.

“This is why we conserve crop diversity,” says Dr Benjamin Kilian, BOLD Coordinator at the Crop Trust. “Wild relatives contain options that agriculture may need as conditions change. BOLD is helping move that diversity from genebanks to where it is needed – into breeding programs, through seed systems and ultimately to farmers’ fields.”

BOLD will also connect researchers, seed producers, regulators and businesses to strengthen quality seed production and distribution. The goal is to release at least one resilient variety in Kenya, with opportunities for testing elsewhere in East Africa.

Earlier Crop Trust–CIP collaboration contributed to two late-blight-resistant varieties now grown in Peru – CIP-Matilde and CIP-Asiryq. This next phase extends that conservation-to-use approach to Africa, turning conserved diversity into a practical resource for climate adaptation, food security and farmers’ livelihoods.

Read the full article: From Wild Potatoes to Resilient Varieties: Crop Trust and International Potato Centre Expand Potato Work in East Africa

Categories: For The Press, Potato