By Rugendo Antony
Worth Noting:
- Mr Munya said the Ministry will be recruiting farmers to get quality seeds from Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (Kalro) who have produced 20 new varieties of potatoes to make French Fries.
- According to him the government in conjunction with development partners will also be helping the potato-producing counties in seed multiplication, processing, value addition, post-harvest losses and storage in a bid to curb importation of potatoes and help farmers get market from KFC.
- In Meru County CS Munya noted that 4000 farmers from potato growing wards which include Kisima, Timau, Kiirua, Naari and Katheri will benefit from this program.
Following a recent KFC controversy, the Kenyan government has now set new plans to improve potato farming in the Country.
Among the new strategies to revamp potato farming is a plan to support farmers to produce a variety of potatoes.
Speaking in Kibirichia on Friday the Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya cited low yields, low productivity, high cost of production and input prices, low mechanization, poor income due to cartels and low access to market and value addition as some of the challenges facing potato farming in Kenya.
He additionally noted that the farmers have been suffering huge losses due to the cartels and postharvest handling losses due to failure of implementation of potato laws and lack of warehouses and cold storage facilities.
Munya termed potatoes as the third most important food value chain in the world after rice and Wheat however it has not been prioritized. Potatoes are grown across many counties notably Nyandarua, Narok, Meru and Trans Nzoia counties.
“More than one billion people worldwide eat potatoes and the total global production exceeds 300M metric tons annually. Potato sub-sector plays a special role in Kenyan Agriculture and is the second most significant food after maize and its importance is attributed to high nutrition value, good productivity and quality for starch, floor and animal feeds,” Munya noted.
According to Munya the Irish potatoes are grown by over 800,000 small scale farmers in Kenya and support over 2.5 Million people employed along the value chain.
Munya said his ministry has developed agricultural sector transformation and growth strategies to address the potato farming challenges among other crops.
He further noted that the government has invested in research as one of the initiatives to revamp potato farming. According to Munya the research has enabled the government to come up with good potato varieties.
The CS noted that the majority of Kenyan Potato farmers have been growing the Shangi variety which cannot be used in making chips and is highly perishable and thereby farmers incurring losses.
Mr Munya said the Ministry will be recruiting farmers to get quality seeds from Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (Kalro) who have produced 20 new varieties of potatoes to make French Fries.
According to him the government in conjunction with development partners will also be helping the potato-producing counties in seed multiplication, processing, value addition, post-harvest losses and storage in a bid to curb importation of potatoes and help farmers get market from KFC.
In Meru County CS Munya noted that 4000 farmers from potato growing wards which include Kisima, Timau, Kiirua, Naari and Katheri will benefit from this program.
Munya added that besides the seed research and production, the Ministry of Agriculture is constructing potato cold plants to help farmers store their produce and curb losses resulting from postharvest handling losses.
He also noted that the government will be subsidizing the fertilizer to help the potato farmers purchase this necessity at low price. According to him farmers will use an electronic wallet system that will allow farmers to deposit money and access farm inputs at affordable prices using their phones.
“The government will pay for you 40 percent and the farmers will only have forty percent to pay for the fertilizers. This is a plan to multiply production of potatoes because productivity is very low,” Munya said.
The Agriculture CS however lambasted some County governments over failure to implement the 50 kilogram bag packaging law.
He questioned how the over 50kilogram bags are sneaked to the market in expense of the farmers despite the Counties having Cess collection points
The Irish potato regulations were gazetted on April 5 with offenders of the new regulations on conviction liable to a fine not exceeding Sh500, 000 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year or both.
The government through the National Potato Council of Kenya and other stakeholders in agriculture has been working towards developing a structured potato value chain since 2015. The United States Agency for International Development and Alliance for a Green Africa Revolution Africa are partners in the project.