Nigeria: Plateau potato farmers to go digital to avoid post-harvest losses

Jos — Despite the viability of potato farming in nine local government areas of Plateau State, farmers often encounter serious storage challenges after harvest, leading to losses worth millions of naira. Farmers say lack of storage facilities for the produce usually discourages them from investing much on Irish farming. According to the Potato Value Chain Support Project of the African Development Bank (AfDB) initiative, Plateau produces about 90 per cent of potatoes in Nigeria, with countries like Chad, Ghana, Niger, Benin, among others, receiving large supplies of the produce. But the farmers said that even with the successes recorded so far in potato cultivation, inadequate depositories was one of the major problems they faced, which lowered mass production. A research conducted by Okonkow et al revealed that over 40 per cent of the stored potato seeds were lost within three months as a result of poor storage condition, adding that table potatoes are rarely stored; rather, they ...