Discussions in progress: Representatives of NPCK, Viazi Kings, Hand in Hand and Producer Organizations during the meeting which was held in Kuresoi sub-county, Nakuru County.
Potato farmers in the country face various challenges in production and marketing such as; inadequate market information, access to high quality inputs, unstructured market system, unstandardized potato packaging, inefficient grading and sorting and exploitation by brokers. In efforts to address some of these challenges, NPCK in collaboration with Hand in Hand East Africa (HiH EA) held a meeting with potato Producer Organizations (P.Os) from Nakuru County, Kuresoi sub-county on 29th September. HiH EA is an organization that seeks to create sustainable income generating activities by addressing major challenges facing many small-scale farmers/entrepreneurs with an objective of contributing to the reduction of poverty and of gender disparities in Kenya. In attendance were representatives of NPCK, Viazi kings ltd, HiH EA and P.Os. The POs represented 327 farmers from two community based organizations (CBO); Umoja CBO and Kuresoi North CBO. It was agreed that the partners will plan on training the groups on record keeping, sorting and grading which was identified as gap in farmer knowledge. Viazi kings’ Ltd, a potato logistics company, informed the P.Os that they are bound to get better value for their potatoes once they begin sorting and grading their produce. The P.Os are also expected to share their production details such as the total acreage under potatoes, expected harvesting date and varieties grown for market linkage purposes.
