J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 1 7 24 POTATO GROWER Farmer To Farmer Network and Catholic Relief Services Assisting Seed Potatoes In Kenya Potatoes are the second most important food crop in Kenya after corn. The Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the Farmer to Farmer Network were looking at how the National Potato Council of Kenya (NPCK) could assist in seed pota- to certification on the basis of being accredited. Very often the potato yield is not more than 60 cwt per acre. This is most often blamed on insufficient availability of certified seed. Most potatoes are grown on small farms in small plots of less than an acre. The altitude for potatoes that I visited was generally around 7500’. Kenya has two growing seasons for potatoes: planting from September, harvesting from January and planting again from February and harvesting from June, July. Most growers keep their own seed. About 60% of the pota- toes planted is replaced once in the 3-4 seasons. However only 2-3% of the acreage is officially certified seed. It means that there is an unofficial pro- duction of potatoes that end up being planted. The Farmer to Farmer network with administrative and financial support of CRS made it possible for NPCK to host somebody from the US, with experience in seed potato certification, to visit people of the industry in Kenya and share experience. The request was to look at ways to make more seed potato inspectors available by having another organization accredited to manage seed potato certification, monitored by the Kenyan Plant Health Inspection Service (KEPHIS). In the country there are efforts to increase the production of certified seed. To accelerate the availability and the registration of new imported vari- eties the Kenyan government has reduced the number of years needed for production trials. DUS (Distinct, Uniform and Stable) trial results from earlier trials in other countries are accepted in Kenya. MOU’s have been signed with several European countries to allow them to have their varieties tried and registered, which allows them then to export seed to Kenya, where it is multiplied on specialized seed farms and sold to small farmers. This seed will be brought into the local supply chain and is expected to improve yields. The Kenyan government through their “Kenyan Agriculture and Livestock Research Organisation” (KALRO) Tigoni carries out variety registration trials and other trials. KALRO has released several varieties obtained from the breeding efforts of the International Potato Center (CIP) such as Shangi, Sherekea, Tigoni, Kenya Mpya, and Asante. Kenya has profited from the CIP breeding efforts: the red variety Shangi is cover- ing about 70% of the potato acreage. As well as KALRO, another government facility, Agricultural Development Corporation, (ADC) in Molo produces mini-tubers in screenhouses from tissue culture. The screenhouses are tradition- al, hydroponics and aeroponics. They have field production and sell certified seed potatoes. Private investments from Kenya and other countries have created seed farms. The poster child of seed farms in Kenya is the Kisima Farm in Nanyuki. It is a large farm of thousands of acres going towards 250 acres of seed potatoes. They have 45 acres of screenhouses pro- ducing roses and one screenhouse to produce mini-tubers. They also have a refrigerated store. They apply strict san- A small plot of ware potatoes growing in the roadside in Mau Narok.