Building the Potato Industry Kenya Needs
By Mary Mwende,
There is a reason potato continues to attract attention across Kenya’s agricultural landscape. It is not only what the crop produces, but what it represents for the people and businesses connected to it.
Kenya produces approximately 2.3 million tonnes of potatoes annually from about 240,000 hectares, making potato the country’s second most important food crop after maize. The crop has become an important source of food, income and business opportunities, with farmers, seed producers, traders, processors and other value-chain actors all playing a role in its growth. Yet the potential of the industry is still greater than its current performance.
Challenges around access to quality seed, productivity, pests and diseases, production costs, market linkages and limited value addition continue to affect the sector. These challenges are also closely connected. Limited access to quality seed, for example, affects productivity; weak market linkages can limit the returns from increased production; while changing weather conditions can increase production risks.
This is why the next phase of development requires a stronger foundation for the industry as a whole. The development of the proposed 10-year Potato Industry Master Plan (2026–2035) provides an important opportunity to establish that direction. Building on the National Potato Strategy 2021–2025, the Master Plan is intended to provide a longer-term framework for transforming and strengthening the potato value chain.
Its importance will ultimately depend on how effectively priorities identified at policy level translate into improvements along the value chain.
For farmers, this means an environment where quality planting material is more accessible, appropriate technologies and information can reach the field, production risks can be better managed and stronger market opportunities can be developed. For businesses, it means a value chain capable of supporting investment, innovation, processing and trade.
Policy and regulation will remain an important part of this equation. The proposed Seeds and Plant Varieties Bill, 2026 has implications for the wider seed system, while ongoing work around the regulation and evaluation of pest control products is relevant to the availability and responsible use of crop protection options. These processes require careful consideration because decisions made within regulatory systems can ultimately influence what farmers can access and how they produce.
Climate is another reality that the industry cannot afford to overlook.
The possibility of above-normal rainfall during the September–December period places renewed emphasis on preparedness. For potato farmers, excessive rainfall can create conditions that favour disease, cause waterlogging and interfere with timely farm operations. Preparing early and using reliable weather and agronomic information will therefore be important in reducing avoidable production risks.
But resilience will not come from any single intervention.
It will come from a value chain in which research informs practice, policy supports innovation, quality seed reaches farmers, markets reward quality production and information moves quickly enough to support timely decisions.
Kenya already has many of the building blocks required for a stronger potato industry. What is needed now is greater alignment among them.
The National Potato Master Plan offers an opportunity to bring this alignment into sharper focus. It can provide a common direction for stakeholders while creating space to address the structural issues that have continued to constrain the industry.
The goal should not simply be to produce more potatoes.
It should be to build a sector that is more productive, more competitive, more resilient and better able to create value across the entire chain.
That will require sustained collaboration and, most importantly, a continued focus on translating plans, policies, technologies and investments into outcomes that matter at farm and market level.
Kenya’s potato industry has already established its importance. The task ahead is to build the systems that will allow it to realize its full potential.
