This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book provides a fresh, updated and science-based perspective on the current status and prospects of the diverse array of topics related to the potato, and was written by distinguished scientists with hands-on global experience in research aspects related to potato. The potato is the third most important global food crop in terms of consumption. Being the only vegetatively propagated species among the world’s main five staple crops creates both issues and opportunities for the potato: on the one hand, this constrains the speed of its geographic expansion and its options for international commercialization and distribution when compared with commodity crops such as maize, wheat or rice. On the other, it provides an effective insulation against speculation and unforeseen spikes in commodity prices, since the potato does not represent a good traded on global markets. These two factors highlight the underappreciated and underrated role of the potato as a dependable nutrition security crop, one that can mitigate turmoil in world food supply and demand and political instability in some developing countries. Increasingly, the global role of the potato has expanded from a profitable crop in developing countries to a crop providing income and nutrition security in developing ones. This book will appeal to academics and students of crop sciences, but also policy makers and other stakeholders involved in the potato and its contribution to humankind’s food security.

The potato has the potential to raise smallholder income and improve food security in Eastern Africa. While improving the quality of seed potatoes can contribute to increasing its productivity, most farmers largely rely on the seed potatoes they save themselves. Seed potato system interventions need to address the quality of specially multiplied and farm-saved seed potatoes simultaneously. This book shows that positive selectionthe selection of healthy looking mother plants for the production of seed potatoes by aware potato farmerscan contribute to improving seed potato quality and the quality of the subsequent harvest.

This book provides basic knowledge on how to produce, multiply and use propagation material in seed potato production and supply systems world wide. Healthy, vigorous seed tubers are essential in potato production. Producing them used to be expensive and difficult. Multiplication rates in the field are low, seed-borne diseases are numerous and seed tubers lose quality during storage between growing seasons. Recently, novel methods of multiplication have revolutionised the seed potato industry. This has resulted in a diversity of seed production systems adjusted to the local potential and needs. This book summarises the current knowledge and assesses the efficient use of modern technology in different stages of seed production. It describes in detail what seed quality means, how (pre-)basic seed can be produced, how this can be multiplied, and how seed health is maintained. It also describes diverse examples of seed supply systems in different regions of the world. The book is aimed at agronomists, farm advisors, seed producers, breeders, and at those involved in seed policies, seed programme development and seed trade. Also recommended for (international) students in agronomy, horticulture and plant breeding.

Sweetpotato and potato are expanding faster than any other food crops in sub-Saharan Africa. There is growing investment in research to address bottlenecks in value chains concerning these two crops, and growing interest from the private sector in investing in them. This book addresses five major themes on sweetpotato and potato: policies for germplasm exchange, food security and trade in Africa; seed systems; breeding and disease management; post-harvest management, processing technologies and marketing systems; nutritional value and changing behaviours.

Kenyan farmers can potentially access potato seeds from three distinct seed systems that provide different levels of quality assurance-the formal system (i.e., certified seed), the semi-formal system (i.e., clean seed) and the informal system (i.e., ware potato, own or neighbor's saved seed). However, similar to other vegetatively propagated crops, adoption of quality seeds (i.e., certified or clean seed) is strikingly low in the Kenyan potato sector. This inhibits the development of a robust and commercially viable potato sector and severely limits Kenya's potential to increase potato production while combating the spread of pathogens. This study uses auction experiments to measure farmers' willingness to pay for seed products representing the three seed systems and evaluates the effectiveness of each seed system in communicating the assurance of quality and the effect of trust of the seed source on farmer's valuation of seed products. The study contributes to the literature by exploring the role of information, branding, and reputation as quality signals to curtail the effects of information asymmetry in credence and experience attributes of quality seed. Results show that potato farmers in Kenya value the formal seed system the highest, followed by the semiformal and the informal systems. However, the formal seed system has not been effective in signaling quality through certification. In terms of the branding and reputation effect, the parastatal ADC Molo and some clean seed producers in selected counties showed strong signs of quality signaling through branding. What this means for the potato seed system in Kenya and beyond is that farmers do trust institutions (i.e., KEPHIS certification) as well as branding and reputation, but still remain hesitant to engage in the formal and semiformal seed systems due to other exogenous and endogenous factors.