TRIP REPORT. POTATO PROJECT West African Regional Consortium for IPM Excellence IPM CRSP. May & June George Mbata

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1 TRIP REPORT POTATO PROJECT West African Regional Consortium for IPM Excellence IPM CRSP May & June 2007 George Mbata Fort Valley State University Fort Valley, GA Telephone USAID Cooperative Agreement EPP-A

2 Objectives to be Accomplished: The objectives to be accomplished during the trip included finding solutions to common problems mitigating against potato production and preservation in West Africa.

3 One of these problems was identified as the dependent on European countries for potato seeds. Importation of potato seeds has continued to limit accessibility of the seeds to peasant farmers in the region who are responsible for close to 90% of Agricultural productivity. While advantages of imported seeds may include availability but it creates a problem of dependence, in addition to cost. The trip was geared at examining the possibility of tissue culture labs in the region to produce needed potato seeds. The second problem was the issue of insect pests and plant diseases. The most prominent insect pest attacking potato on-farm and in storage is the potato tuber moth. A previous study has identified alternate crops that are hosts to this pest. The current trip looked at ways the pest is being managed across the region with hope of bringing such practices to other communities. Active experiments are to be set up with a view of finding cultural practices that will ameliorate the damage done by this pest. Information on successful disease management will also be shared by participating members. Because of the intense heat prevalent in the region, potatoes are difficult to store and they do not have a shelf-life of up to three months. Potato storage across the region was examined with the hope of identifying methods that increase the shelf-life substantially. Senegal The quantity of potato seeds imported into Senegal is estimated at 1000 Kg. The potato seeds were imported from European countries of Belgium and France. The production during 2005/2006 planting seasons was estimated at less than 3,000 metric tons. Potato consumed with the period is estimated at 45,000 to 55,000 tons. These potatoes were imported from Belgium and France. This shows that Senegal is unable to currently produce enough potatoes for local consumption. Senegal has currently two tissues culture laboratories. One of the labs is situated at Belai. This lab is a shared facility belonging to ISRA, IRD (French Overseas Research Development Organization) and Dakar University. The tissue culture laboratory has several programs which include production of potato tissue culture materials. This potato program has different partners and the program is funded by the French Regional Government in Belgium called WALLONIE. ISRA contributes infrastructure (Laboratory spaces), technician and research scientists while WALLONIE contributes funds and a scientist (Marian Detroyer). ISRA is represented in potato program by UACI (Unit for In vitro Culture) and CDH. The Belai tissue culture lab produces micro tubers from potato tissue culture materials imported from Belgium. In addition, the lab trains manpower to multiply and acclimatize seeds. The second potato program is funded by FNRAA (National Funds for Agriculture and Agro-Industry Research) and the World Bank through competitive funding. This program is also geared toward potato seeds production. The partners in this program are Department of Plant Biology of Dakar University, CDH (part of ISRA) and PRODER (a farmers organization). Tissue culture is done at the Department of Biology while acclimatization of products from tissue culture, micro tubers, is done at CDH, and field trials for yield and disease resistance are carried out at CDH. In addition, ELIZA and

4 virus testing are carried out at CDH. The farmers carry out multiplication of seeds which requires planting out over three seasons (three years) in Senegal in order to produce more and bigger mini-tubers. Acclimatization and multiplication of microtubers require three years and three generations of minitubers are produced. Seeds from the third generation minitubers are the ones planted for table potatoes. In Senegal, the greatest problem militating against potato seed multiplication is the potato tuber moth. Third generation minitubers from the Belai tissue culture lab were decimated by the potato tuber moth. Also diseases such as potato leaf roll virus caused by potato virus Y and Potato virus X, and mosaic virus afflict both potato seeds and harvested table potatoes. The Belai lab has produced first and second generation seeds. The lab produced first generation micro tubers at site one 78 Kg of micro tubers from 3,000 in vitro plant materials and from their second site 48 Kg of micro tubers from 3,000 in vitro materials. The Belai lab produced 300 and 155 Kg of second generation micro tubers from 28 and 21 Kg1 st generation seeds, respectively. Cold Storage Facilities: The two tissue culture labs have cold temperature chambers for the storage of microtubers. Two cold storage rooms are available at CDH, each with a capacity of 36 m 2 and a temperature range of 5-10ºC. There are other cold storage facilities in Senegal; one is financed by a Spanish Co-op and it is situated near St. Louis. The second is situated at the Dakar airport for handling export. Several functional private cold storage facilities are available. Experiments on cultural methods for the management of potato tuber moth will continue in Senegal. The usefulness of intercropping and trap crops in the management of PTM will be investigated. Guinea Most potato cultivation in this country is done in Middle Guinea. The advantage here is the particularly mild temperature which is conducive for the cultivation of potatoes compared to the rest of the country. There are three seasons for potato cultivation. The first period is between December and March with temperature ranges between 5 and 10ºC. The second period is between March and June with average temperature of 18ºC, and the last period is July November with average temperature of 20ºC. The first potato period is also the off season period. Mean yield during this period is 25 ton per hectare and potato is grown at lowland areas because irrigation is necessary. The average yield during the second cultivation period is ton/hectare. The low productivity is due to soil that is low in clay and lacks the ability to hold water. This is the main cultivating period and most growers cultivate potato during this time. Only short season varieties are planted this time. It is also very difficult to store potato during

5 this time because of high moisture. Potato rots easily during this time and incidences of diseases and pests are high during this period. The third season potato is the inter-season potato crop. The yield is about 18 tons/hectare. Irrigation is not needed to cultivate potato during this period. Sources of Inputs Certified class A seeds are imported from Netherlands and the France. These seeds are distributed to about 13,000 farmers. Class A seeds are used to produce potatoes for export. Class A seeds come in several varieties such as Nicolas and Desire from France, and Spunta from Netherlands. The growing season for these potato varieties range between 75 and 90 days. Nicolas variety is tolerant to bacterial wilt (Alternaria, Hervinia, Rizoctinia). The Spunta variety produces high quality red-skinned tubers while Desire produces middle quality tubers with good taste. Experimental seeds from FAO, Central Institute of Potato, Peru, Mali and Burkino Faso are under experimental multiplication and for evaluation for resistance to diseases, pests and acceptance based on taste are being experimented by Dr. Kamano. Planned experiment for Guinea will include the evaluation of the middle Guinea for multiplication of seeds for the entire region since PTM is not a major problem here. Currently, experiment comparing the imported and local micro tubers (including those from Mali) for disease tolerance and yield has already been planned. Mali A visit was made to the key potato producing region in Mali, Sikasso. The research organization that takes care of potato cultivation and storage in Mali is the IER. The Director of regional director of IER in Sikasso is Dr. Abdoulaye Hamadoun, while Dr. Fatogoma Sanogo is directly in charge of potato research. However, I found out after the trip that Fatogoma works under Madame Gamby who is the national coordinator for vegetable research. Potato seeds Potato seeds (micro and mini tubers) are imported from The Netherlands and France and about 1,500 tons are imported annually. Some imported seeds are sold to farmers from Burkino Faso. Seeds are very expensive, about CFA/Kg while tubers sale for about 100 CFA/Kg. Bamako University has tissue culture facility for generation of microtubers which are distributed to the farmers. Cameroon farmers buy microtubers from Bamako University. Planting of potato takes place during early November January and harvesting is done between February and April, in lowland area. After harvest by lowland farmers, the big tubers are sold and the small ones are given to highland planters for cultivation during the

6 rainy season. These potato seeds (small tubers from lowland harvest) are of poor quality and are very susceptible to diseases. Recently, Belgium technical partners have been distributing seeds to highland farmers and their harvest has shown improvement. The estimated annual production from Mali is about 55,000 tons out of which 50,000 tons are produced in Sikasso. Harvested potatoes are stored hermetically in mud huts with roof of raffia. The huts are without ventilation. USAID sponsored a storage facility with ventilation and provides shelves for placing the tubers. This improved the shelf-life of the potato considerably (for more than six months). Problems associated Potato Production in Mali Inputs- It is difficult to get good fertilizers for potatoes. Cotton being a cash crop dominates other crops in terms of attention and investment of resources by government. Cotton inputs are used for other crops including potatoes even when the farmers know this will not produce optimum results. The Raston bacterial wilt is another problem that has been plaguing potato cultivation for about ten years. About 20% of the entire area available for potato cultivation lies fallow these days because of the bacterial wilt. International Center for Potato (ICP) has been working on producing potato varieties that are resistant to bacterial wilt. Another bacterial problem is the soft rot bacterium (Erwinia carotovora). This bacterium causes the tuber to smell badly. Fusarium is also a problem. Insect problems are not intense. Experiments planned are those aimed at improving post-harvest preservation of harvested potato. One of the experiments will investigate ways of improving the ventilated storage structure and the second experiment will compare irrigated storage method practiced in Burkino Faso with the improved structure in Mali.

7 Potato producing areas in Guinea

8 Hermetic Hut Used for Post-harvest Storage of Potatoes in Mali Potato Stored in Traditional Hermetic Storage Above (Potatoes are already deteriorating and sprouting with a two of Storage).

9 Improved ventilated Brick Structure with Shelves for Potato Storage donated by USAID Inside of Improved ventilated Brick Structure Showing Shelves containing Potatoes

10 Inside of Improved ventilated Brick Structure Showing Shelves containing Potatoes Cold Storage facility in Senegal (for storage of Potato seeds)

11 Multiplication and Acclimatization of Tissue Culture Materials (Microtubers)