Kenya to host the first World Potato Congress in Sub-Saharan Africa

Kenya will welcome the global potato sector to the shores of Lake Naivasha this October, hosting the 13th World Potato Congress from 26 to 30 October 2026. According to the organisers, it is the first time in the event's three-decade history that the Congress has been held in Sub-Saharan Africa — a signal of how decisively the continent has moved to the centre of the crop's future.

The five-day programme at the Sawela Lodges and Convention Centre, in the Great Rift Valley, is expected to draw more than 1,000 delegates from over 60 countries, alongside an expected 1,500-plus Kenyan farmers. It is convened under the theme "Global Potato Partnership for Enhanced Food Systems, Nutrition Security and Trade," and is being staged by the National Potato Council of Kenya (NPCK) and FreshCrop, with technical support from the Agriculture and Food Authority, the International Potato Center (CIP) and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization.

The choice of Kenya is not incidental. The country is one of East Africa's largest potato producers, with a fast-growing domestic market and a research base that organisers say made it a natural host. The agenda mirrors the issues that matter most to African growers: global production and trade, seed systems and variety development, disease and pest management, post-harvest handling and value addition, climate-smart technologies, and inclusive business models for women, youth and small enterprises. Field visits to Kenyan farms and seed operations are built into the week.

For the host country, the Congress arrives at a revealing moment. Kenya's potato sector embodies both the opportunity and the constraints the meeting is designed to address: demand is rising, yet productivity remains well below potential and the supply of clean planting material falls far short of what farmers need. Industry figures, including NPCK chief executive Wachira Kaguongo, have repeatedly identified the seed shortfall as the sector's central bottleneck.

That tension is what gives Naivasha its weight. The World Potato Congress, now held every two years rather than every three, has become less a trade show than a working forum where research, policy and private capital meet. Hosting it puts Kenya's challenges — and Africa's — in front of the people most able to help solve them. Whether the momentum outlasts the closing session is the question the next five days, and the months that follow, will begin to answer.