Potato farmers anticipate more losses as rains approach

Farmers prepare bags of potatoes for sale at Mau-Narok trading center in Nakuru County. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

Potato farmers have expressed fear that more rainfall expected between October and December, according to the weatherman, may cause them more losses.

The farmers say they are yet to recover from losses incurred between last April and August following heavy rains.

“Germination of potatoes was very poor because there was too much water in the soil. This heavily affected production,” said  David Juma from Sirikwa village in Kuresoi.

His 37-acre farm was also ravaged by potato blight, which spreads faster in rainy seasons.

After spending thousands of shillings on chemicals that did not yield much  results, Juma only harvested between five and 10 bags of potatoes from every acre, down from an anticipated yield of between 70 to 80 bags per acre.

Next season

He now fears he might not afford to replant the crop for the next season.

“I spent a lot of money buying chemicals but harvested very little as compared to my expectation,” he said.

Juma is among farmers who sell their produce to Tanzania.

This year, the harvest was too low to transport across the border without incurring further losses.

He sold the little that he harvested to traders in Thika at Sh4,200 per sack.

Whenever there is bumper harvest of the crop, a sack fetches between Sh1,000 and Sh2,500.

“Most of my clients need potatoes but I have nothing to supply them,” he said.

John Kamau, another farmer, is also counting losses after his entire crop was ruined by potato blight.

From his eight acres, Kamau only harvested 40 bags.

He is undecided on whether to sink more money into potato farming.

Another loss

“I am not even sure they will germinate if I plant. I would wish to, but I fear incurring another loss. I am waiting for rains to subside,” he said.

Fred Leteret from Olepusmoru in Narok is also facing a similar predicament.

He planted 10 acres but only harvested 10 bags from every acre, down from between the 80 and 100 bags he expected.

“The rains caused us losses. We are not sure if we shall plant again,” he said.

The Standard visited Mau Narok trading center, one of the areas that report bumper production of potatoes for local consumption and export to neighbouring countries.

This time, the market is experiencing a scarcity of the commodity, causing a hike in prices. A sack of potato is going for Sh6,000.

A sack of the commodity has previously been sold for between Sh4,000 and Sh4,500.

Sam Mburu, one of the middlemen at the market, said he had quit buying potatoes and shifted to peas.

“My clients wants potatoes but I cannot get enough from farmers," said Mburu.

Cost of production

Meanwhile, farmers have condemned the high cost of production attributed to increased prices of farm inputs and enactment of Finance Bill 2018 after it was signed by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Under the Act signed on July 18, prices of pesticides were increased by 16 per cent.

Chris Kuto, a wheat farmer from Narok, said the county might not attain food security as envisioned by Uhuru's Big Four agenda because of high cost of production.

“Food security can only be attained if tax on farm inputs is reduced,” said Mr Kuto.

Kuto said some farmers were contemplating abandoning farming potatoes or reducing acreage under the crop. 

He said recent increase in fuel prices had also hit commercial farmers hard.

"Fuel is crucial in farming. We use it on tractors during ploughing and we need it to transport produce to markets," he said.

The farmer said current erratic weather patterns had seen more crop pests and diseases whose control pushed production costs higher.

“Increasing cost of production has affected farming. This issue should be addressed,” said the farmer.