Agronomic performance of Improved and local potato cultivars

In Eastern Ethiopia, improving and maintaining potato cultivars with high yield and market values is limited by lack of knowledge on the diversity of the local as well as the improved cultivars. This is because; the local cultivars are not well studied as that of the improved ones, which need studying both cultivars for better documentation. Moreover, considerable variations exist in local naming or identification of the cultivars. There is information that each agro-ecological zone has its own unique set of names for different cultivars and duplicate or different names may have been given for the same cultivar. This diverse system of naming cultivars not only limits the proper identity of the cultivar but also hinders monitoring and follow-up of the released improved cultivars. Therefore, documented information on the cultivated potato cultivars is vital for advancing improvement work on the crops.