While we often joke about the
importance of potatoes in the home of a mount-Kenya resident, general research on meals in homes across major towns confirms that most families enjoy a potato meal at least three times in a week.
Perturbing however, is how their prices keep on fluctuating, yet many are the tales of this delicacy rotting away
on farms in Nyandarua and Kinangop.
This points to the need for
better management in curbing post-harvest losses. In fact, for any country to
achieve food security, handling of post-harvest losses is considered as
critical as enhancing the production capacity.
Now potato farmers and consumers
have something to smile about given that the government is in the process of
setting up potato cold storage facilities in Nyandarua and Meru.
According to Micro and Small
Enterprises Authority Board Chairman, Charles Waithaka, the facility, which is
costing an estimated Sh 100 million, will be complete and ready for use by end
of February this year and will carry a capacity of 300 pallets of packed
potatoes.
Farmers are further advised to
form cooperatives to attract private investment in the potato value chain.
Establishment of such facilities
is tipped to protect farmers from exploitative middlemen who take advantage of
existing gaps during harvest seasons.
Late last year, the governments
commissioned a similar cold storage facility in Ol Kalou, Nyandarua County
worth Sh100 million, as part of the government’s commitment to reduce
post-harvest losses and improve food nutrition under the Big 4 Agenda.
