…… As Kenya Agricultural And Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) Chairman Dr Thuo Mathenge Reveals That Another Research Centre Will Be Opened In Karichen Area, Kieni East Sub-County of Nyeri County
By Felix Njenga and William Muchiri
Potato farmers in the country have called on the government to put more effort in producing more certified seeds, which has gone relatively low despite the law prohibiting the sale and sharing of uncertified seeds.
The farmers speaking during open research week organized by the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO) at Potato Research Centre in Tigoni, Limuru Sub-county said that certified seeds are costly and are not many and most farmers do not have access.
“We farm potatoes as business and farmers want good returns. We have a challenge of certified seeds not being readily available to us. We are forced to buy uncertified seeds which bring low production,” Sammy Rotich a potato farmer in Kuresoi, Nakuru county said.
Rotich said that the Kenya Seed and Variety Act that prohibits the sale of uncertified seeds is good as it is meant to help the farmers but it will be unhelpful to farmers if certified seeds are unavailable to farmers.
“The government should come closer to the farmers and be able to know and address their challenges. Most farmers lack training and no agricultural extension officers there to help farmers know how to grow better crop and advise accordingly on where to access certified seeds. Farmers rely on their own advises that usual is ineffective,” he said.
Joseph Rono, a potato farmer said that farm inputs are also costly with farmers unable to afford and asked government to reduce costs or zero rate to allow farmers increase their production.
“Fungicides and fertilizers are becoming expensive for farmers to afford yet we are faced with a challenge of lack of certified seeds. The government should look into farmers plight and address immediately,” he said.
He alleged that another challenge farmers get is that the certified seeds are sold through biasness since it is less and not all farmers can access resulting to the farmers accessing the certified seeds in Nairobi.
KARLO on the other had has introduced a new variety of potato called clone IG-70 that meets international standards and is drought and disease resistant and enhance productivity.
The director KALRO Robert Musyoki said that the new potato variety is at its final verification stage of being released to the farmers.
“Certified seeds play a crucial role in enhancing potato productivity, the new variety will address the certified seeds shortage and will increase farmers yields, Musyoki said.
He confirmed that there is shortage in certified seeds which needs to be addressed.
” We know in Kenya there is a huge demand for potatoes but as of now there is a shortage of certified seeds and that is why we have invited stakeholders to come together so that we can grow and increase the certified seed production that has high yields and can withstand diseases so that we can satisfy the potato consumption,” he said.
He added that the high high cost of certified seeds was prompted by the cost incurred in the research and certification process.
” Certified seeds are costly due to the input applied in the research and process before the seeds are released to farmers. As research center we need to develop a variety that is required,” he said.
He called on government to increase support for research so that the new varieties which are being developed may not be expensive for farmers to afford.
Moses Nyongesa Centre Director of the KALRO Horticulture Research Centre, Tigoni, said that farmers have been asking for a potato seed that has high yields and is drought resident so that they should not incur a lot of finances in buying fungicide sprays.
He said as a research center they have a challenge of producing a lot of certified seeds due to constrained resources though they have introduced new technology of rooted apical cutting.
” We have come up with a technology called rooted apical cutting which is a potato seed that looks like a stem rather than the usual tuber seed that farmers are used to. It is available at KALRO and will address certified seed shortage,” he said.
He said that the farmers will harvest over 40 tonnes of potatoes in a 2 acre piece of land or 80-120 bags of potatoes in a one acre piece of land after following the right procedures of growing potatoes.
He said that the IG-70 variety will go for Ksh 4,250 and will be given a name once released to farmers.
The farmers have since called on government to step in and reduce prices downwards to allow them to test the new variety.
On Tuesday, KALRO chairman Dr Thuo Mathenge revealed that another potato research centre would be opened at Karichen area in Kieni constituency, Nyeri County.
Speaking at Naromoru town where he was given a chance by President William Ruto to address a public meeting, Dr Mathenge noted that the research centre will assist regional farmers in getting the best potato seeds.
On his part, the president noted that he appointed the nyeri based industrialist to the position so that he could assist his administration in all Agricultural and Livestock based research in the country.
