Food security via vertical integration of a new Kenyan pot chain

Currently, Kenya's dependency on maize as main crop threatens the food security situation in Kenya, because yields are declining as a result of diseases. This threat has been acknowledged by the Kenyan authorities, who decided to choose potato as a substitute for its current dependency on maize. Potatoes are produced by smallholders, who often use the potatoes which are rejected by the market as seed potato. As a result of this and because of poor agricultural practises in general, yields are very low. Another problem is that smallholder farmers receive little money for their potatoes which they sell to middlemen. Due to lack of alternatives and storage facilities, individual smallholders have little bargaining power and have to sell their potatoes to a middle man for very low prices.

This project responds to this situation by working on three pillars, namely:

• The creation of a sustainable – fully operational and profitable – potato chain in Kenya;
• The realisation of a potato enabling environment;
• The realisation of sufficient potato knowledge.

Activities include:

• The testing of new potato varieties in Kenya,
• The development of two service centres to sort, store and handle the seed potatoes,
• Capacity development of smallholder farmers,
• The organization of farmers in cooperatives and commercial markets,
• Capacity development of KEPHIS to handle the certification,
• Improving tax conditions to realise a fair level playing field.