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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...

LONGYEARBYEN, NORWAY, 17 June 2026 – The Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened its door for the second time this year, adding over 15,000 new seed samples. This marks a major milestone for the Seed Vault. Its collection has now...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

In this edition of our Seed Heroes series, we recognize Bart Panis for his pioneering work on the conservation of banana diversity and for leading the establishment of the world’s largest cryobank for bananas in Leuven, Belgium.