Nyandarua County inks deal with Germany on potato farming

The County Government of Nyandarua has entered into a partnership with the German Government to help boost its potato production.

The agreement was signed on Thursday by Governor Daniel Waithaka in his office in the presence of a high delegation from the country led by Mr Gunther Begers, the head of directorate general, where they agreed to have and strengthen the partnership.

The German Government will help the county through the provision of high quality seeds, mechanisation of the potato farming as well as value addition.

The move, according to the government, will help boost potato production from the current 33 per cent of the national potato production with about 36,446 ha of the crop cultivated annually to higher levels.

This, he said, would see farmers also uplift their livelihood for the better through value addition.

“This will be a major milestone for our farmers who have been planting lower quality seeds and have not been trained on value addition. The German Government has pledged to help us in this as well as provide machinery to help in planting and harvesting in large scale,” Waithaka said.

The governor outlined his government’s commitment to promote the potato sector through establishment of seed bulking sites, which are six acres in each of the 25 wards for bulking currently with Kenya Mpya, Rudolf and Shangi varieties.

Twenty five farmer groups – that is each group per ward – have been assisted with seeds for bulking which will be given to other farmer groups and individuals in order to address the challenge of clean potato seed availability, added the governor.

He said these are some of the achievements that his government has done in the past three years and that his administration was committed to do more.

“We will not allow our farmers to suffer while we have some potential partners who are willing to work with us,” he noted.

The governor however noted that the main challenge is the packaging of the produce in extended bags, accusing some individuals of using the courts to block the initiative by the county to sell the produce in 50 kilogramme bags.

On his part, Mr Gunther Beger said his government would offer training to willing farmers on new methods of farming the produce as well as offer good quality seeds at subsidised prices.

He noted that Nyandarua, like Germany, has the potential to feed the world with potatoes and that is why the Deutsche Gesellschaft Internationale (GIZ) chose it as the place to invest in.

He said the German Government was ready to partner with the Nyandarua Administration in sharing initiatives geared towards achieving a shared vision.

Through the agriculture sector, he said the cooperation is set to reach over 20,000 small scale farmers across the county.

He said this will be realized through cooperatives societies and organised groups.

Beger added that there was a need to seek ways to look for solution on the various challenges facing farmers among them financial services, marketing and production.

Kipipiri Member of County Assembly (MCA) Mr Michael Njoroge Kirumba welcomed the development saying farmers from across the county would benefit greatly.

He said the partnership would help boost the economy of the region and empower farmers look for other markets for their produce outside the country.

He further added that the high level delegation from Germany was a clear sign that the partnership was well intended and hence farmers will get value for their sweat, noting that the weather, the geographic condition of the two was same and therefore there was no doubt farmers are looking forward to a great future.