Day One: Farmers being educated on UPL and its products
The 5th National Potato Conference was held on 19th and 20th of May 2022at KALRO HQ. The event provided an opportunity for networking, showcasing, and sharing information about potato value chain issues, technologies, and innovations. The conference’s goal was to discuss the most pressing issues confronting the potato industry as well as the sector’s progress. The event was important for the industry because it provided an opportunity for potato farmers and other stakeholders to discuss and provide feedback on adoption of the national potato strategy, the implementation and enforcement of potato regulations, potato subsidy programs, new technologies and innovations and other potato initiatives. Over 50 exhibitors and over 800 participants attended the conference.
The event was graced by Mr. Douglas Kangi from the state department of Agriculture who represented the Cabinet Secretary. The theme of the conference was: “Transforming potato value chain through partnerships, climate smart technologies and innovation for sustainable food systems and accelerated economic growth”. The thematic areas discussed during the conference were; 1) Production and sustainable food systems, 2) Marketing, value addition, and post-harvest handling, 3) Digital solutions, 4) Finance and insurance, 5) Policy and regulatory framework and 6) Opportunities for Youth and SMEs in Potato Value Chain. The day 1 of the conference was dedicated to youth and SMEs where opportunities for Youth in Potato Value Chain we discussed led by experts from various fields. The second day were the main event.
The exhibitions: stakeholders, service providers, farmers and the key industry players got a chance to interact, share information and network for the purposes of improving their fields of engagement
Day Two: Stakeholders and farmers engaged in discussions about policy and regulatory framework