Why a new potato variety could be a game-changer for farmers in East Africa
IMAGINE being a potato farmer in Ethiopia, Kenya or Nigeria. On a small piece of land, which you depend on for food and income, you have spent months planting, weeding and watering. Up to twice a week, you manually spray your field, sometimes with limited equipment, or hire someone to do it, spending much of your income on fungicides to avoid crop diseases. TADESSA DABA, Director, Agricultural Biotechnology Research Directorate, Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research And yet within a week of cold and humid weather, your entire field has been destroyed by late blight, a disease that wipes out a…