The use of certified potato seeds in the East Africa Community remains limited with only five percent of farmers able to access seed from specialized seed multipliers.
Policymakers, researchers, value chain actors, seed producers and farmers who are meeting in Nairobi, have expressed the urgent need for productivity enhancement in the region to unlock the full potential of the potato sector.
The players who are drawn from Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda are meeting in Kenya under the banner of strengthening agricultural knowledge and the innovation ecosystem for inclusive rural transformation and livelihoods in Eastern Africa (AIRTEA) project to facilitate policy dialogues and harmonize existing potato seed policies.
According to the stakeholders, in the African and EAC region, the seed sector has come under increasing public scrutiny with several critical policy and trade shifts affecting seed laws taking place including the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
Head of Seed Certification and Plant Variety Protection from the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) Simon Maina said they have since 2018 together with experts from EAC been in the process of establishing an East Africa Seed and Plant Varieties Bill by looking at the national standards and law regarding seeds.
The process, he added, has already gone through the relevant processes, has been approved by the sectoral council and right now the Bill has been forwarded to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA).
“EALA will discuss it and once the Bill is approved then it will become a law that will be implemented in the East African community member states,” he explained.
Maina noted that the Bill considered all the national laws of the countries in the region with some of the key highlights having three major sections mainly seed certification, general legal requirement for seed production and also an element of variety release and variety listing.
“The bill will look at who are the seed producers, what are the laws that are involved to ensure that we produce quality seed, if any new varieties whether for potato or maize or even any other crop has gone through processes of testing before it is approved for seed production,” he said.
Maina further said that once the bill is passed by EALA and then implemented, regulations will be developed and protocols will be followed in every process.
“All countries have a common interest and at the end of the day, we want to have a law that facilitates movement of seed across all the countries considering no country is self-sufficient in seed production,” he added.
Maina added that for the farmers and seed merchants, the idea of the law in place will allow movement of seed across borders and specifically address access of quality seed considering seed is a carrier of disease and pests.
Farmers will also have a wide basket to select seeds from in terms of the varieties that are available in the countries with an assurance that the seed is of the right quality and is free from diseases and pests.
Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) Director Crops Systems Dr. Lusike Wasilwa said although there are policies in place, there has been weak implementation of the policies that hinder progress.
“This project is in the process of domesticating them, harmonizing the existing seed potato policies, regulations and standards at national level including modalities for use of certified seeds for the benefit of member states,” she said.
Dr. Lusike said the amount of certified seed potato in Kenya and other EAC countries is alarmingly low with Kenya’s annual seed demand standing at 100,000 MT, yet supply only raises 15,000 MT.
“It is high time that the EAC countries looked at how to increase tons of potato seed produced since it is the most preferred crop in the EAC. Rwanda consumes about 39 kilogrammes of potato per capita and in Kenya we are down at between 8 and 10 kilogrammes,” she added.
Seed, Dr. Lusike said, is the foundation of agriculture and if we have clean, certified seed, then we will have solved the issue of potato production.
Dr. Ambrose Rwaheru from Sustainable Development Goal Centre for Africa (SDGC/A), a lead partner in the AIRTEA project said the project that is under five partners, is trying to deliver on technology transfer for innovative seed production systems in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.
“For adoption of use of certified seed, we need support of the policy maker, and there must be a conducive and enabling environment to support it,” he added.
Dr. Rwaheru explained that the project that started in 2022, March and is ending in February 2025 and is funded by the European Union to a tune of 290,000 Euros is expected to not only establish harmonized standards and regulations for quality seed potato but will also provide improvement to a sustained affordable and reliable choice and diversity of high-quality seed potato, tested and registered in local market conditions.
Potatoes are a critical food and cash crop in Eastern Africa, accounting for 70 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s production. They are vital for food security and income generation, particularly in densely populated highlands.
By Wangari Ndirangu
