Egerton University is partnering with the National Potato Council of Kenya (NPCK) and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO) in a bid to ensure sustainable potato production in the country, as Wilson Odhiambo reports in a news story published by University World News.
In July 2024, the three institutions joined forces to launch a three-year project called the Kenya Sustainable Potato Initiative (KSPI), aimed at promoting sustainable potato production through adopting climate-smart potato farming practices. The goal is to improve yields and profitability.
The US$1.5 million project’s main objective is to increase directly the productivity and earnings of 150,000 potato farmers while creating employment opportunities for more than 4,000 youth. The project will also benefit another 300,000 farmers indirectly through value-chain addition.
Of the 150,000 farmers targeted, 40% are expected to be women and another 10% will represent the youth.
KSPI targets the four largest potato production counties in the country where it intends to strengthen 400 potato farmer groups’ spread across these counties by providing them with structured marketing systems. It will help digitise the groups, provide them with farm inputs, give them access to markets and enable them to get fair prices for their produce.
Source: University World News. Read the full story here
Image: Credit Christos Giakkas from Pixabay
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