Biotech Updates

Vita Launches Potato Centre of Excellence in Africa

June 15, 2012

Ireland's Minister of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine, Simon Coveney, TD launched the Vita Potato Centre of Excellence in Gamo Gofa in South Ethiopia. The €5m project will help farmers in the potato industry through technology transfer and business partnership, consequently allowing farmers to curve their own destiny. The scheme will involve local farmers taking a bag of seed potato loan which should be returned the next year, alongside a donation of another bag, thus providing more farmers with seed for years to come.

Her Excellency Lela-Al em Bryan's, Ethiopia's ambassador to Ireland said: "We are keen to develop through strategic, long term partnerships that benefit all stakeholders. The Vita Potato Centre of Excellence is an exciting step for the people of Ethiopia, and should serve as a template for replication across Africa."

The article can be viewed at http://www.teagasc.ie/news/2012/201206-13.asp.