Potato prices in Kenya vary from region to region and farmers from one region will always complain of low prices in comparison to what other farmers in other regions are getting. The potato prices are mainly affected by target markets and seasonality. Low quality of potatoes are marketed, mainly because most farmers don’t practice good pre- and post- harvest handling leading to potato tubers of different varieties, cut, rotten or even potatoes of different sizes being packaged in the same sack.
High cost of transportation also highly increase transaction cost which lower farmer profitability. Most potato growing areas have very poor feeder roads while some are totally impassable which leads to very high cost of transportation. The prices of potatoes can only be consistent if marketing is organized and well structured. The council intends to design a participatory approach and deliver a more organised potato market and marketing structure in the country. There is definitely a window of opportunity for creation of many enterprises at all stages of the value chain as well as quality products along the value chains with the long run outcome of this being wealth creation and equitable distribution of the same across the chain actors and service providers. The earmarked strategies to be pursued include; setting of minimum gate prices for potatoes, development of collection centre and warehouse receipting system for organised marketing and value addition and other product handling practices including sorting, packaging and branding that could also improve the industry’s competitiveness in the regional and global markets.