Peter Poortinga, managing director of Solynta, believes that hybrid potato seeds offer considerable potential for the global development of the crop. “It all depends on the quality of the product. In other crops, such as rice or corn, hybrid varieties have captured a significant share of the market in around fifteen years,” explains Peter Poortinga.
Specializing in potato variety selection, Solynta has been developing hybrid potatoes from botanical seeds since 2007, also called “true potato seeds”. Since their commercial launch in 2023, these seeds are already marketed in several African countries, notably Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
According to Peter Poortinga, these seeds have several major advantages over traditional potato plants. “On a global scale, the production of seed potatoes involves around 1.8 million hectares. To produce botanical seeds, 10,000 hectares are enough,” underlines Peter Poortinga. He adds that these seeds are much lighter, easier to store and less expensive to transport.
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Africa: a strategic market
For Peter Poortinga, Africa constitutes a natural market for this technology. “Demographic growth is strong there, quality certified plants remain poorly available and health pressure is very high,” explains Peter Poortinga. Late blight represents one of the main phytosanitary challenges for African producers. This is why Solynta focuses a large part of its work on varietal resistance. “We are already working with varieties integrating two resistance genes and we are currently developing varieties with three genes,” specifies Peter Poortinga.
This issue is all the more important as access to phytosanitary products remains limited in many African countries. “Genetic protection then becomes essential,” insists Peter Poortinga. The availability of certified plants also remains insufficient in several regions. “In some countries, they only cover 5 to 10% of needs,” explains Peter Poortinga.
The rest of the plantations often come from informal circuits, where producers reuse table potatoes as planting material. “This practice leads to a reduction in yields and increases disease pressure,” says Peter Poortinga. Botanical seeds have an important health advantage in this regard, as they are disease-free. “They help prevent the spread of soil-borne pathogens such as nematodes, bacteria or fungi,” adds Peter Poortinga.
New genomic techniques
At the same time, Solynta continues its varietal improvement work through trials carried out in several countries in order to evaluate yields, disease resistance and performance in local conditions. New genomic techniques (NTG) could also play an important role in the future of these selection programs. “It’s a great tool. We have been working for years in classical selection, which has allowed us to acquire excellent knowledge of the genome. We will thus be able to use NTG in a very targeted manner to activate or deactivate certain characters,” explains Peter Poortinga.
The manager nevertheless considers these techniques as a complement to traditional selection methods. “Variety creation remains a long-term task,” recalls Peter Poortinga.
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A longer term vision
If Africa remains Solynta’s priority today, the company also identifies opportunities in Europe, particularly in organic production systems or with low use of phytosanitary products. According to Peter Poortinga, the tightening of European regulations and the gradual reduction of available phytosanitary solutions should strengthen demand for more resistant varieties. “It will also create a growing need in Europe for more robust varieties. Botanical potato seeds can help secure the future of this crop,” concludes Peter Poortinga.
For more information:
Solynta
Dreijenlaan 2
6703 HA Wageningen
www.solynta.com
