Bridging Breeding Priorities and Market Realities: A Systems Analysis of Climate‑Resilient Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Varieties Adoption in Kenya

Abstract The adoption of climate-resilient potato varieties (CRPVs) in Kenya remains limited despite sustained investments in breeding for tolerance to drought, heat, and emerging pests and diseases. Existing studies frequently explain this gap through isolated constraints such as low farmer awareness, limited seed access, or poor varietal performance. This review instead conceptualises low adoption as a consequence of systemic misalignment across breeding priorities, seed systems, market preferences, and governance structures within potato innovation system. Using a system-based perspective, the study synthesises interdisciplinary literature and policy evidence published between 2005 and 2025 through a critical narrative review framework to examine interaction, feedback mechanisms, and institutional dynamics influencing varietal uptake. The findings reveal that although breeding programmes are increasingly climate-responsive, they remain insufficiently aligned with farmers’ multi-stress production realities, livelihood priorities, and evolving market requirements. Adoption is further constrained by fragmented and under-resourced seed systems that limit access to CRPVs, while market structures frequently favour established cultivars possessing preferred processing, trading, and consumer traits. These constraints are reinforced by institutional fragmentation, weak coordination among value-chain actors, and limited integration of market intelligence into breeding processes, creating reinforcing feedback loops that perpetuate low sustained adoption. The review concludes that improving varietal uptake requires moving beyond linear technology dissemination models towards more integrated and adaptive innovation systems that strengthen alignment among breeding programmes, seed systems, markets, and governance processes. It highlights the importance of participatory and demand-led breeding, pluralistic seed system development, stronger market integration, and coordinated multi-level governance for enhancing adoption and impact of CRPVs.