UK launch Sh2billion project to improve potato farming in North Rift
The United Kingdom has launched a Sh2billion project to improve the quality of irish and sweet potatoes for farmers under the North Rift Economic Bloc (Noreb).
The investment includes the setting up of a factory in Elgeyo Marakwet with a 60,000-tonne processing capacity.
Speaking yesterday during the launch of the project, British High Commissioner to Kenya Jane Marriott said smallholder farmers are particularly affected by the changing weather patterns and unstable prices for their produce.
“I am delighted to announce a new Sh2billion investment by Select Fresh in partnership with the UK government to finance the first ever potato processing factory in Elgeyo Marakwet,” she said.
“With this factory, I am hoping that one day I will be sitting in a restaurant in Britain and I will be served potato fries from this region,” she added.
The processor will produce ready-cut fresh and frozen irish potato and sweet potato chips for the local and export market and will also see the production of new seed varieties for the potatoes in its tissue culture lab, with the potential to double yields.
The project will also entail the enhancement of the existing farmer co-operative societies by providing the necessary training and capacity building to farmers on improved farming methods.
Elgeyo Marakwet being one of the major potato producing counties in the country, the project which h is expected to help reduce post-harvest losses and provide ready off-take will guarantee steady farm, prices for over 10,000 smallholder farmers.
The county governor Wisley Rotich said the investment will address cases of exploitation of potato farmers by middlemen and create wealth for hundreds of potato farmers in the country.
“Elgeyo Marakwet’s economy is 95 percent reliant on agriculture and has never had a value chain project, we are helping to make our economy stronger. I know that in six months, we will be able to transform the livelihoods of our people and have the property levels,” the governor said.
The project is expected to help create more than 5,000 jobs in its first year, projected to increase to 10,000 jobs within five years.
