Farmers harvest their Irish potatoes on their farms in Mau Narok, Nakuru County on August 12, 2024. GM potatoes will be grown in the potato growing areas.Â
Photo credit: Boniface Mwangi | Nation Media Group
The Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Organisation (Kalro) targets to plant a genetically modified (GM) variety of Irish potato that is resistant to the late blight disease.
Late blight, scientifically known as Phytophthora infestans, is the most threatening potato disease and can also affect tomatoes. It is caused by the water mould Phytophthora infestans, which can spread rapidly in damp, cool weather.
According to a research paper by India’s Punjab Agricultural University, this disease can cause potato losses of up to 80 percent in epidemic years.
Kalro has partnered with the International Potato Centre (CIP) and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) on the project.
The organisations have submitted an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) report on the project to the National Environment Management Authority (Nema), as required by law.
They say that the blight-resistant potato varieties have already been tested in confined field trials that were supervised by the National Biosafety Authority (NBA).
“The potato variety intended for introduction has been developed through modern biotechnology by introducing three late blight (LB) resistance genes derived from wild relatives of the potato (RB, Rpi-blb2 genes from Solanum bulbocastanum and Rpi-vnt1.1 gene from S. venturii) into the farmer and consumer preferred variety Shangi,” say the firms.
The potatoes will be grown in the potato growing areas of Bomet, Bungoma, Elgeyo-Marakwet, Kiambu, Meru, Embu, Kirinyaga, Nakuru, Narok, Nyandarua, Nyeri, Taita Taveta, Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu and West Pokot.
In the ESIA, the study team argued that the project would not pose any significant environmental hazard or health and safety concerns.
“All the respondents (100 percent) were in support of the implementation of the introduction of 3 R-gene LBR biotech potato as recorded in the questionnaires,” the ESIA said.
Kenya produces a significant quantity of Irish potatoes, with output of the food crop reaching 2,329,713 tonnes valued at Sh74.03 billion in 2023, according to official data from the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA).
This makes potatoes the third most lucrative food crop grown in Kenya, only behind maize, which fetched Sh199.09 billion during the period, and beans which earned Sh113 billion.
Agricultural organisations have been racing to take advantage of last month’s the High Court decision which okayed the Cabinet’s lifting of the 10-year ban on GMOs in October 2022.
Kalro and AATF recently applied to the NBA for a licence to cultivate GM maize. The NBA has kicked off a public participation process to collect the input of the citizens on the licence application.
Kenya is betting on GM food to improve food security by increasing production. However, critics of GM foods have raised questions about potential health and safety concerns.
