Potato Processors in Kenya contract 23,000 farmers to meet consumer demand

Some 23,000 farmers in 13 potato-producing counties in Kenya have signed contracts with various potato processing companies in the country to buy the produce to supply enough food to consumers.

Leah Kasera, Grow Africa:
 

“Potato processors have committed to purchase 2,650 metric tonnes per month to meet consumer demand and this is expected to streamline the potato value chain to benefit farmers and processors.”

She said they want to meet the target of 63,600 tonnes for the next 24 months.

Kasera spoke during the first ever Nyandarua Potato Fair held at the Agriculture Training Centre in Oljoro Orok, Nyandarua, at the weekend.

According to the National Potato Council of Kenya (NPCK), Kenya’s potato value chain involves approximately 2.7 million people among them 800,000 smallholder farmers and it contributes to more than Sh50 billion (USD 500 million) to the economy.

Kasera said the contacts will be signed through the East Africa Potato Consortium that was formed in 2015 in a partnership between the NPCK, Grow Africa and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa.

The contracted farmers are from various groups and cooperatives in Meru, Elgeyo Marakwet, Nyandarua, Nakuru, Bungoma, Bomet and Laikipia counties.

Humphrey Mburu, the Sereni Fries Processing Company MD, said getting the required quality and quantity of potatoes for processing has been a big problem as a result of low production due to the lack of certified potato seeds.

Humphrey Mburu, Managing Director of the Sereni Fries Processing Company:
 

“We want to start contracting farmers so that we can get potatoes with the right shape, which is ideal for potato processing.”

“We work with between 500 and 700 farmers on a yearly basis, but production is still low.”

The company has the capacity of processing 15 tonnes of potatoes a day, but it is barely doing fives tonnes a day.

David Kimotho, a farmer from Mirangi-ini, Nyandarua county, said contract farming will help in getting a ready market, better prices and farmers can easily access loans.

He has been growing potatoes for 12 years in his five-acre farm.