Nyandarua signs pact with German government to boost potato production

NYANDARUA, KENYA: The Nyandarua county Government has entered into a partnership with the German Government to help boost its potato production.
on Thursday, Governor Daniel Waithaka in his office signed an agreement with a high delegation from the country led by by Mr Gunther Begers, Head of Directorate General where they agreed to have the partnership.
The German Government will help the county through the provision of high quality seeds, mechanization of the potato farming as well as value addition.
The move according to the Government will help boost the potato production from the current 33 per cent of the national potato production with about 36,446ha of the crop cultivated annually to higher levels.
He also noted that the development would also see farmers 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 providing machinery to help in planting and harvesting in large scale," Waithaka said.
He outlined his government’s commitment to promote the potato sector through establishment of seed bulking sites which is six acre in each of the 25 wards for bulking currently with Kenya Mpya, Rudolf and Shangi varieties.