Hope for potato farmers as agency steps in to address storage challenges

The National Potato Council of Kenya (NPCK) has identified transport and storage as the main challenges facing potato farmers.

Failure to comply with the 50kg law in parts of the county has also continued to affect the profit margin of the farmers with calls on the State to fully enforce the law.

To address this, the council has partnered with TingA, East Africa’s network of tractors and farm equipment to address the farming and transport challenges.

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According to council CEO Wachira Kaguongo, under the project, the farmers will access potato planters, ploughs, air seeders, boom sprayers and harvesters from the farm network.

He noted that the availability of the machinery under the ‘Viazi Soko Digital platform’ will result in further mechanization, better cost management and increased efficiency.

“This will save time, lower costs of farming and reduce inefficiency associated with use of traditional manual labor that hinders farmers from maximizing the potential of their farms,” he said.

Wachira noted that the council was up-scaling the number of their members from 10,000 farmers to 25,000 farmers.

“Under the programme it’s projected that 100,000 farmers will be reached within three years while 200,000 farmers will be reached in five years’ time,” he said.

He noted that potato demand in the country had risen over the years unlike in the past when it was associated with specific communities in the country.

“Research shows that the consumption of the tuber as food is changing from fresh potatoes to processed food products therefore increasing the demand with the up-surging population,” he said.

On his part, TingA CEO Phillip Nyandieka said that individual farmers and farmer groups from potato growing counties such as Narok, Meru, Nakuru, Laikipia among others will benefit from the agreement.

He noted that through the pact, farmers would access the farm inputs at subsidized rates therefore increasing their profit margins.

“For the country to be able to produce the food required, it is critical that we embrace technologies that make life easier for citizens and ensure food security,” he said.

Nyandieka added that the partnership embraced their strategy to enhance digital transformation across the agriculture value chain, increase equipment utilization and provide farm efficiency.

A research in Canada has projected that over 44,000 tons of processing leftovers could harvest 4-5 million liters of ethanol as wastes from potato are rich in starch that can be liquefied and fermented to produce fuel-grade ethanol.