Over Sh3 billion worth of potatoes go to waste in Nakuru every year due to shortage of storage facilities.
County executive for Agriculture Immaculate Maina said though farmers netted Sh9.4 billion from the sale of 541,000 metric tons of potatoes last year, post-harvest losses of the crop stood at over 40 per cent.
Maina said though productivity of potatoes ranges from eight and 10 tonnes per hectare, depending on agricultural practices and agro-ecological zone, the county has the untapped potential to realize 25 tonnes per hectare.
“It is possible to more than double the productivity by using good agricultural practices such as the growing of certified seed potato. All stakeholders need to invest in storage facilities where a farmer can keep his potatoes for over four months until prices stabilize,” she said.
Maina spoke during the Nakuru county Irish potato value chain stakeholders forum organized by the National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Growth Project (NARIGP) yesterday.
She said there was a need for development of online platforms that will enable potato farmers query and get information on availability of certified seed as well as markets.
“We are partnering with youth with ICT backgrounds to come up with mobile apps that will be used to disseminate potato related information to farmers. These platforms will update farmers on market trends and weather conditions,” she said.
Profitability of the subsector, she added, had been hard hit by erratic weather, emerging crop pests and diseases whose control pushes production costs high.
“Increasing cost of production has affected potato farming. It is time that our farmers moved away from rain-fed potato farming which is becoming unsustainable and embraced water harvesting and irrigation for dry seasons,” she said.
There are about 20,000 farmers growing potatoes on 38,000 acres in Nakuru.
During the forum, lack of certified seeds, pests and disease infestation, fluctuating market prices and exploitation by brokers were identified as some of the issues bedeviling the potato farming.
Despite the government having standardized the packaging of farm produce at 50 kilograms, brokers do not adhere to the rule and counties have consistently failed to implement the policy over the last six years.
Maina said her department has been working with Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (Kephis) and the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (Karlo) in providing quality certified potato seeds to farmers in the nine counties that are the main potato producers in the country.
