In South Africa potatoes are produced in 16 different geographic areas with a wide range of soils and climatic conditions  (Fig. 1.1). This ensures a constant supply of fresh potatoes throughout the year.    Fig. 1.1 Potato producing areas in South Africa. Oval sizes represent the relative area of each potato producing region  During the 2008 season about 2 million tons of potatoes was produced on a total areas about 50 000 hectares.  Since the  early 1990's the area under potato production has gradually declined, while the average yields have increased steadily (Fig.  1.2).     Fig. 1.2 Total area of potatoes planted (ha) between 1990 and 2008 and average yields (t/ha) achieved over the same  period.  Some of the reasons for the increases in average yields are   • the use of higher yielding cultivars   • larger proportion of production under irrigation  • better seed quality  • better production practices  Potatoes are mainly produced under full irrigation, although successful dry land production still occurs in some regions, such  as the Eastern Free State. Over the past two decades the area under dry land potato production has gradually declined from  about 50% of the total area in the late 1980's to its current level of less than 20% (Fig 1.3).   Figure 1.3 Total area of potatoes annually planted (ha) under dry land and irrigation over the period between 1987 and  2008. South Africa ranks 28th in the world in terms of total potato production (tons per country) and contributes about 0.3 % to the  global potato production. In terms of the African continent, our area under production is only 3.5 % of the total area, but  South Africa contributes 11 % of the total potato production.   Potatoes makes out about 45 % of the gross value of vegetables in South Africa, and 3% of the total value of all agricultural  products. There are a total of about 650 active commercial and 1 000 emerging small potato growers in the country.  Mark du Plessis