Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a major food and cash crop in the Kenyan highlands, widely grown by small-scale farmers. Farmer practices and constraints in potato production differ from region to region. A survey was conducted in three major potato producing districts namely Bomet, Molo and Meru Central with the following objectives: 1) to document farmers’ practices, key potato production and marketing constraints, 2) to determine farmers’ potato cultivar and trait preferences and 3) to assess the prevalence and farmers’ management of bacterial wilt. The survey was carried out between November 2011 and March 2012. During the survey, a semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 253 individual farmers. The results show that the average household farm sizes are less than 2.4 hectares in all the districts. Majority of farmers allocate more than 25% of their farms to potatoes. Potato is produced both for food and cash by 90% of respondents in all districts. In Bomet district the red-skinned Dutch Robyjn is widely grown. In Molo district, the white- skinned Cangi is prominent while in Meru Central, the red-skinned Asante is predominantly grown by farmers. Cultivar preferences are mostly dictated by availability of markets, yield potential and taste. The major potato production constraints are diseases with bacterial wilt being the most prominent

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Knowledge of genetic diversity in plant germplasm and the relationship between genetic factors and phenotypic expression is vital for crop improvement. This study's objectives were to understand the extent of genetic diversity and population structure in 60 common bean genotypes from East and Southern Africa. The common bean genotypes exhibited significant (p<0.05) levels of variability for traits such as days to flowering (DTF), days to maturity (DTM), number of pods per plant (NPP), number of seeds per pod (NSP), and grain yield per hectare in kilograms (GYD). About 47.82 per cent of the variation among the genotypes was explained by seven principal components (PC) associated with the following agronomic traits: NPP, NFF (nodes to first flower), DTF, GH (growth habit) and GYD. The SNP markers revealed mean gene diversity and polymorphic information content values of 0.38 and 0.25, respectively, which suggested the presence of considerable genetic variation among the assessed genotypes. Analysis of molecular variance showed that 51% of the genetic variation were between the gene pools, while 49% of the variation were within the gene pools. The genotypes were delineated into two distinct groups through the population structure, cluster and phylogenetic analyses. Genetically divergent genotypes such as DRK57, MW3915, NUA59, and VTTT924/4-4 with high yield and agronomic potential were identified, which may be useful for common bean improvement.

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