A first field trial, October 2015 to January 2016, has just been completed at the Kachwekano Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute (KaZARDI) of the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) near Kabale in Uganda. Twelve highly resistant GM plants of ‘Desiree’ and one of ‘Victoria’ varieties provided by the International Potato Center (CIP) have shown extreme levels of resistance compared to the non-GM plants of the same varieties.
Using genetic transformation, three resistance (R) genes from wild relatives (Solanum bulbocastanum, and S. venturii) were transferred into farmers’ preferred varieties and the results are encouraging. A few partially resistant varieties exist but they are not the preferred varieties that farmers and consumers want. This first observation of zero-fungicide potatoes marks an important milestone in the development and future deployment of biotech potato varieties to farmers in Africa that will reduce losses and cost of potato production significantly.
In Uganda, potato loss due to late blight can be up to 60% forcing farmers to spray fungicides often up to 15 times to protect their crops. About 300,000 smallholder households grow potatoes for their subsistence living and income generation. Loss due to late blight represents between 10-25% of their revenue from potato.
For more details on the project contact: Drs. Andrew Kiggundu NARO akiggundu@kari.go.ug and Marc Ghislain CIP m.ghislain@cgiar.org
Photo credit: S.Quinn_CIP