Africa Potato Conference casts potato, sweet potato into continental spotlight for food & nutrition security, trade
BY BEN MOSES ILAKUT
KAMPALA, UGANDA—Strong public private partnerships to crowd in dedicated investments into new potato varieties with a focus to commercialize them, aligning national policies to regional and international policies to stimulate market access, promoting a tripartite linkage for Government, the private sector and farmers (including extension services), mainstreaming the role of regional, sub-regional and continental organizations in shaping and guiding the focus in the conduct of agriculture on the continent.
These are some of the emerging lead recommendations from the ongoing 13th Triennial African Potato Association (APA) Conference which ended on May 30, 2025 at the Speke Resort in Munyonyo, Kampala, Uganda. The conference running from May 25 to 30, 2025 brought together researchers, policymakers, industry stakeholders, and development practitioners to share insights and innovations, as well as deliberate on the strategic importance of potato and sweet potato to the African economies.
Resilience to climate change featured as key
Under the theme “Fostering Climate Smart Cropping Systems for Sustainable Potato and Sweet potato Value Chains”, the Conference focuses on the role of innovation, research, and partnerships in building climate smart, resilient, sustainable, and inclusive value chains for potato and sweet potato. The conference served as a platform to showcase cutting-edge scientific advancements, highlight transformative technologies, and foster collaborative networks across Africa and beyond.
The conference was organized by the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), the International Potato Centre (CIP), the Korea Programme on International Agriculture (KOPIA), and the Food And Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Pitching agenda for potato at highest level
The conference also heard recurring voices calling for prioritization and pitching of potato as a commercial good over and above its public importance to ensure its agenda attracts the appropriate attention. “Cassava, potato, yam and banana are poised to be the food for the future, and not wheat or barley,” Said the President of the African Potato Association, Dr. Yona Baguma, who is also the the Director General, National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), Uganda. “ We therefore call upon the African Union to take advantage of the technical and scientific expertise in the region to create an agenda for the attention of African Heads of States to recognize these commodities as food for the future of food and nutrition security.”
The potato value chain is important as it confers benefits to a wide range of actors including seed aggregators, farmers, processors and other farm input suppliers. Regarding resilience to climate change, potato grows quickly, requires less water than cereals, can survive degraded soils during drought and matures quite early. Constant innovation and support to research could include financing genetic innovations, breeding for climate resilience, and ensuring maintenance and access to clean seed, value addition and market research.
Uganda’s agriculture Minister keen on potato prosperity
The week long Conference was opened by the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Hon. Frank Tumwebaze who painted a picture of the importance of potato, ranking it as the third most important crop in Uganda, after cassava and banana.
Hon. Tumwebaze explained that Uganda currently produces over 1.8 million metric tons of sweet potato and more than 162,000 metric tons of potato annually. Yet paradoxically, the country continues to import 30,000 metric tons of potatoes and exporting only 55,000 metric tons regionally, a scenario that he described as an imbalance that underscores gaps in productivity, value addition, and regional market integration. “This mismatch shows that there is space for both import substitution and export expansion. It suggests that we must invest in seed systems, storage infrastructure and mechanization to close the gap,” Tumwebaze said.
Potato is a strategic crop
Tumwebaze urged African Governments and the Private Sector to invest heavily in potato and sweet potato value chains describing them as un tapped engines of agro-industrial growth and economic transformation. He said the Continent must rethink root crops not merely as food security buffers but as strategic commodities for wealth creation, climate resilience and regional trade.
“Urbanization is driving demand for processed foods like potato crisps and chips. This is no longer about just feeding our people… it is a multi-billion shilling opportunity for agro-processing and industrialization,” he asserted. He said boosting intra-Africa trade under the African Free trade Area (AfCFTA) could open up vast markets for potato-based products, especially if African countries harmonize standards and invest in cross boarder trade.
Packaging knowledge for advocacy and decision
Hon. Tumwebaze called upon researchers to package key recommendations from the conference well with the target audience and required actions clearly articulated and summarized. “Sharing information with us (policy leaders) has been a problem. Scientists don’t pass their work to policymakers including legislators in the relevant committees of parliament that handle climate change. Let us agree to package and direct our findings to the right legislators and policy makers for action after the conference,” he counselled.
NARO’s new potato technologies
Speaking in his two capacities as the President of the African Potato Association and as the Director General, Dr. Yona Baguma described potato and sweet potato as crops that provide some of the best solutions in addressing the effects of Climate Change and ultimately assuaging the challenges of food and nutrition security. He boasted of what he termed as “some of the most dramatic potato innovations” developed by NARO. The innovations include the purple red potato (NAROSpot 1) with a yield potential of 32 tons per hectare; pink skin and deep orange fleshed sweet potato (NAROSpot7) with a yield potential of 36 tonnes per hectare; and the purple red potato.
Notably, the orange fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) and the purple sweet potato are some of the health varieties that NARO has made available to Uganda and the African Continent. The products not only benefit Uganda, but also other African countries. OFSP is reputed, especially in dealing with Vitamin A deficiency which was in the past known for notoriety in causing blindness mainly in children, while the purple potato has been profiled for its density with anthocyanin content. Experts say a diet rich in these compounds may prevent inflammation and protect against type 2 diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. Regularly eating anthocyanin-rich foods may also benefit memory and overall brain health
Having the potato market in focus
Observing that potato is one of the food commodities which is loved by the young generation, Dr. Baguma called for the development of market driven solutions for potato value chain and its products. He highlighted the need for dedicated investment in the human component of the potato value chain alongside investments in innovation and climate resilient technologies and linkages to the livestock sector where potato offers crop based based crude protein from potato vines for feeding livestock.
ASARECA loops in EU, World Bank support to potato discourse
ASARECA Interim Executive Director, Dr. Sylvester Dickson Baguma highlighted the need for unflinching financing of regional collaborative initiatives in fixing gaps in the potato and sweet potato value chains including constant improvement of potato seed quality. Contributing to a plenary session on fostering Climate Smart cropping systems for sustainable potato and sweet potato value chains, Dr. Baguma listed blended models of financing incorporating public and private sector investments, green bonds, and microfinance windows as key in keeping the momentum towards viable potato cropping and marketing.
A key convener of regional collective action in Eastern and Central Africa, ASARECA added value to the ongoing 13th Triennial APA Conference by leveraging funding to ASARECA from the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Progarmme (CAADP-XP4) Programme financed by the European Union and the Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) Project (https://aiccra.cgiar.org/), to facilitate strategic partners from the region to contribute to the discourse around potato value chains during the APA Conference. Specifically, ASARECA hosted the Regional Policy Dialogue to Review Implementation of the East African Community Regional Seed Potato Strategy and Action Plan during the Conference.
FAO’ s school feeding featured
FAO representative in Uganda Marcus Prior said the APA was a pivotal platform for agricultural transformation noting that it aligns with FAOs strategic inclination to efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems for better production, nutrition, environment and improved livelihoods. FAO is one of the key partners contributing to potato value chains through improved seed quality, farmer training, nutrition sensitive approaches and using the the school feedig model. ‘Potato has demonstrated tremendous potential to improve household food security, generate income and provide climate resilient alternatives to other staple crops,” she said.
Due to its nutritional benefits, OFSPS variety has been integrated by FAO into the school feeding programme as well as in increasing the resilience of households to food scarcity. FAO has been working with NARO in scaling research technologies in the potato value chains by establishing seed multiplication centres in Nakapiripirit, Moroto, Kotido, Abim and Karenga district. They have also trained 110 extension workers.
CIP Regional Director, Joyce Maru said by hosting the event, the Ugandan Government was showing commitment to integration of research with market driven models that could held unlock the potential root tuber crops.