An Assessment of the Impact of Two Late Blight Tolerant Potato Varieties

A study was made to assess the impact of two late blight tolerant potato varieties Tigoni and Asante releases in 1998. The appraisal and impact assessment set out to collect information on the adoption of the two varieties; assess their economic impact; and forecast future prospects for these two varieties and identity constraints to their adoption and diffusion in three divisions of Molo, Timboroa and Laikipia. The methodology adopted was conducting field surveys between September and October 2001, and gathering secondary information from the Ministry of Agriculture, research Centres, seed companies, NGO's and farmers. Results indicated that high yield, early maturity, tolerant to late blight, good market for ware potatoes and good taste were the advantages of Tigoni and Asante, widely recognised in all survey sites. Disadvantages of Tigoni and Asante were poor storage, rapid greening of tubers (mainly for Tigoni), and limited availability of planting material. The two varieties had higher yield benefits, net benefit per hectare and higher rates of return compared to the local varieties. the rate of returns when the local cultivars were substituted by the new improved varieties ranged from 556 to 1070%. Data on diffusion of Tigoni and Asante showed that combined acreage of varieties Tigoni and Asante rose to 196.3, 137.5 and 1476 ha in Molo, Timboroa and Laikipia respectively. The future forecast for the two varieties is good if the limitation on seed availability is addressed