From sworn enemies to climate-clever farmers fighting hunger
Dangerous pesticides found in Nyandarua potatoes.
What you need to know:
- More than 70 per cent of potato seed planted in Kenya is infected with bacterial wilt , which can remain in the soil even without a host, sometimes for years.
They fought, killed and maimed each other at the height of the 2007 post-election violence. But 18 years later, residents of Kuresoi North in Nakuru County have united with a common purpose - to fight hunger and generate income through production of certified Irish potato seeds while braving the tough climatic conditions.
“After the unfortunate event in 2007, all small farmer groups in Mausamit location were brought together with support from humanitarian organisations as a way of reconciliation, and that is when we realised that our main problem was not our different ethnic communities, but poverty caused by poor agricultural production, unpredictable climatic conditions, lack of income and ignorance,” said Ezekiel Kirui, a seed potato producer from Sigawet Village in Kuresoi North.
Through this unity, the farmers ended up forming Starlight Farmers Cooperative Society, through which they are using climate-friendly farming techniques to produce certified potato seeds that have doubled production from five to 10 tonnes per acre.
“We cooperate with the Meteorological Department in Nakuru for climate information, the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (Kephis) for seed certification, and SNV Kenya through a project known as Climate Resilient Agribusiness for Tomorrow to train farmers on climate-smart farming techniques,” said Laureen Njuguna, the general manager of Starlight Cooperative.
“The climate is changing at a rapid pace,” said Julius Kilemba, Nakuru County director for Meteorological Services. “If we don’t disseminate climate and weather information to farmers in real time, then we will be exposing them to a disaster,” said the weatherman.
The department delivers a weekly forecast specifically targeting the three climatic zones in the county - higher grounds, medium grounds and lowlands.
Mr Kilemba observes that in 2024, for example, the entire Nakuru received a lot of rainfall during the July, August, September season, yet, this is traditionally known to be a very dry season for the county. “The variation of rainfall patterns is real, with farmers sometimes experiencing extreme dry seasons at a time they expected it to rain, and the rains can also come when they are least expected,” he said.
According to Mr Kirui, lack of timely weather and climate information, use of poor seeds, and farming without adhering to climate smart farming techniques exposes farmers to extremely poor harvests. “I have been a victim of this some years before I joined the cooperative, where I could harvest as little as one and a half tonne of potatoes from a full acre piece of land,” he said.
To produce certified seeds, the cooperative acquires parent planting materials from the Nakuru based Agriculture Development Corporation, which are carefully selected in a disease-free environment and grown through the tissue culture process in a laboratory controlled environment.
Once the basic seed is acquired, the cooperative members pull together resources to rent land in an isolated place, where potatoes have not been grown for a number of seasons. This results into certified generation one seed (C1), which is multiplied into the certified generation two seed (C2) that is later sold to farmers for commercial potato production.
“These seeds have been highly productive, disease-free, and have led to improved food security and income among local farmers,” said Kirui
However, according to Kephis, certified seed potato production continues to be very low, standing at a mere two per cent. According to the National Potato Strategy 2021 – 2025, the supply of certified seed stands at 6,700 tonnes against a demand of 30,000 tonnes.
More than 70 per cent of potato seed planted in Kenya is infected with bacterial wilt , which can remain in the soil even without a host, sometimes for years, according to a study published in the Journal of Agricultural Science. Once the soil is contaminated, productivity can still be affected even when disease-free seeds are planted.
As a result, potato yields in Kenya are reportedly very low; in many cases four times lower as compared to the average production in developed countries, according to a case study on ‘Potato Seed Regulation in Kenya’ by the US-based Feed the Future.
The National Potato Strategy notes that substantial amount of seed potato has always been imported into the country. This gives agri-business relevance to the work being done by Starlight Farmers Cooperative Society.
“We provide our members with customised training modules on climate-smart agriculture and a robust extension system. We also invest in mechanisation, perform localised soil amendments through soil testing, and continue to build partnerships with value chain actors,” said Ms Njuguna.
So far, potato contributes about one-third of overall dietary energy consumption in Kenya. Studies have shown that potatoes have high climatic adaptability due to their ability to grow in high-altitude areas where most cereal staples such as maize do not perform well, making it an important crop for adaptation to climate change.
