The government plans to double Kenya's potato harvest from three million to six million metric tonnes, Agriculture CS Mutahi Kagwe said. The extra output is meant to meet growing regional demand and supply exports. Kagwe spoke at the close of the Potato Congress in Naivasha, The Standard reported.
Kagwe said the increase will come over the next three years. He named modern technology, better market access and improved variety value chains as the main tools. According to The Standard, Kenya is already one of the leading potato producers in sub-Saharan Africa and the leading consumer in East Africa.
The CS said potatoes contribute $400 million (KSh 52 billion) to the economy. The crop employs 3.5 million people, directly and indirectly. Under the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), the government has designated potatoes a strategic food crop and a high-impact value chain.
Kagwe said the State continues to provide subsidised inputs to farmers. More than 7.2 million farmers are now registered in a digital database. He added that geo-mapping of farms across key value chains is under way. He described County Aggregation and Industrial Parks (CAIPs) as a key driver of local value addition.
The government also wants to expand youth-led digital extension services, meet international standards and push for better trade deals, Kagwe said. He said the measures aim to improve food security, raise smallholder incomes and boost private-sector-led industry in the potato subsector. More than 1,000 delegates attended the congress.
The plan comes as complaints grow over uneven enforcement of the Crops (Irish potato) regulations. The rules cap packaging at 50kg per unit. Nyandarua Governor Kiarie Badilisha said his county is the only one fully enforcing them. As a result, traders are going to other markets and his farmers are losing money.
Badilisha called for the rules to be enforced in all potato-growing counties or suspended everywhere. He said enforcement in Nyandarua alone puts the county's farmers at an unfair disadvantage.