Potatoes are the most important product in the horticultural consumption basket in Namibia, accounting for 30% of the volume of all fresh fruits and vegetables consumed locally. Local producers have been planting potatoes for many years, but this is arcane to the local consumers. Namibian producers harvested 4,404 tonnes of potatoes in 2006 and due to the highly successful production season and the favorable marketing environment; producers have increased their production by 84% to 8,094 tonnes. Not only has the production increased, the quality of the product has increased substantially due to better quality seed potatoes, which is mainly of the BP1 variety. A randomly selected bag contained 10.92kg of potatoes. Tuber size ranged from 158g to 552g, with an average size of 260g per potato. 9.5% of the tubers did not meet South African size requirement by 14.8% and one tuber had growth cracks and should have been discarded. Once these undersized or defective tubers have been removed there remained 10.24kg of good quality potatoes. The product has undergone very little post harvest treatment, giving it a rough and scaly natural appearance. A quick rinse in water removes leftover soil particles. Pricing is extremely competitive at N$2.80/kg farm gate price for a product that retails for as much as N$6.00/kg. This should bring welcome relief to Namibian consumers, who saw vegetable prices soar by 17% from June 2006 to May 2007 and by 50% since December 2001. High transport costs and damage during transportation is mainly responsible for high consumer price of imported potatoes. Local producers will be able to provide 64% of the national demand for potatoes during this year’s harvest period from July to December and local green grocers will scramble to stock the product. The development potential for potatoes is enormous, with Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola and the DRC all being potato importers and the global demand for potatoes increasing by 13% annually.

Here workers sort and package potatoes in Northern Namibia. As the potatoes fall from the conveyer belt, the large tubers move to the right hand side, the mediums sized tubers are moved to the left, while the workers remove the damaged tubers. Even the damaged tubers are sold to informal traders.