Digital Revolution in Farmer Fields: VarScout Unveils Kenya's Varietal Landscape – The Case of Potato
This paper reports on data collected through VarScout, a digital crowdsourcing tool, to monitor varietal adoption, turnover, seed use, and yields. Key findings for the case of potato in Kenya include: (1) Shangi is the dominant variety, covering 73% of the area, followed by Steven (7%) and Sherekea...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Artículo preliminar |
| Language: | Inglés |
| Published: |
2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/172869 |
| _version_ | 1855536891978317824 |
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| author | Gatto, M. Borus, D. Malit, J. Kihiu, E. Barker, I. Echessa, L. Soto-Torres, J. Meyer, A. |
| author_browse | Barker, I. Borus, D. Echessa, L. Gatto, M. Kihiu, E. Malit, J. Meyer, A. Soto-Torres, J. |
| author_facet | Gatto, M. Borus, D. Malit, J. Kihiu, E. Barker, I. Echessa, L. Soto-Torres, J. Meyer, A. |
| author_sort | Gatto, M. |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | This paper reports on data collected through VarScout, a digital crowdsourcing tool, to monitor varietal adoption, turnover, seed use, and yields. Key findings for the case of potato in Kenya include: (1) Shangi is the dominant variety, covering 73% of the area, followed by Steven (7%) and Sherekea (6%); (2) the weighted average varietal age is 9.3 years, with newer varieties performing better; (3) 19.5% of farmers use clean seed, with higher adoption in Nakuru (21.5%) compared to Bungoma (1.5%); (4) farmers using clean seed achieve 1.5 t/ha higher yields than those using saved seed. The study demonstrates the utility of VarScout for cost-effective data collection, while highlighting the need for further methodological improvements and ground-truthing. The findings underscore the significant impact of CIP's breeding efforts, with over 50% of the pedigree of key popular varieties linked to CIP's genebank. The paper provides insights to inform seed system interventions and guide future breeding priorities in Kenya. |
| format | Artículo preliminar |
| id | CGSpace172869 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1728692025-11-06T13:51:36Z Digital Revolution in Farmer Fields: VarScout Unveils Kenya's Varietal Landscape – The Case of Potato Gatto, M. Borus, D. Malit, J. Kihiu, E. Barker, I. Echessa, L. Soto-Torres, J. Meyer, A. seed systems potatoes yields Digital agriculture This paper reports on data collected through VarScout, a digital crowdsourcing tool, to monitor varietal adoption, turnover, seed use, and yields. Key findings for the case of potato in Kenya include: (1) Shangi is the dominant variety, covering 73% of the area, followed by Steven (7%) and Sherekea (6%); (2) the weighted average varietal age is 9.3 years, with newer varieties performing better; (3) 19.5% of farmers use clean seed, with higher adoption in Nakuru (21.5%) compared to Bungoma (1.5%); (4) farmers using clean seed achieve 1.5 t/ha higher yields than those using saved seed. The study demonstrates the utility of VarScout for cost-effective data collection, while highlighting the need for further methodological improvements and ground-truthing. The findings underscore the significant impact of CIP's breeding efforts, with over 50% of the pedigree of key popular varieties linked to CIP's genebank. The paper provides insights to inform seed system interventions and guide future breeding priorities in Kenya. 2025-01 2025-02-06T19:32:49Z 2025-02-06T19:32:49Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/172869 en Open Access application/pdf Gatto, M.; Borus, D.; Malit, J.; Kihiu, E.; Barker, I.; Echessa, L.; Soto-Torres, J.; Meyer, A. 2025. Digital Revolution in Farmer Fields: VarScout Unveils Kenya's Varietal Landscape – The Case of Potato. Working paper. Lima, Peru: International Potato Center. p. 24. DOI: 10.4160/cip.2025.02.001 |
| spellingShingle | seed systems potatoes yields Digital agriculture Gatto, M. Borus, D. Malit, J. Kihiu, E. Barker, I. Echessa, L. Soto-Torres, J. Meyer, A. Digital Revolution in Farmer Fields: VarScout Unveils Kenya's Varietal Landscape – The Case of Potato |
| title | Digital Revolution in Farmer Fields: VarScout Unveils Kenya's Varietal Landscape – The Case of Potato |
| title_full | Digital Revolution in Farmer Fields: VarScout Unveils Kenya's Varietal Landscape – The Case of Potato |
| title_fullStr | Digital Revolution in Farmer Fields: VarScout Unveils Kenya's Varietal Landscape – The Case of Potato |
| title_full_unstemmed | Digital Revolution in Farmer Fields: VarScout Unveils Kenya's Varietal Landscape – The Case of Potato |
| title_short | Digital Revolution in Farmer Fields: VarScout Unveils Kenya's Varietal Landscape – The Case of Potato |
| title_sort | digital revolution in farmer fields varscout unveils kenya s varietal landscape the case of potato |
| topic | seed systems potatoes yields Digital agriculture |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/172869 |
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