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The Nairobian

Student invents new way to multiply potato seed

Crop

By David Mugunyu | Mar 03, 2020

**James Ndarui (right) explaining to farmers about his Apical Cutting Technology method of multiplying potato seeds during a one day show at the Ol Kalou stadium last week.**

A desperate search of clean potato seeds triggered a university student to develop a new method of seed multiplication that he hopes farmers will embrace.

James Nderui, a student at Nairobi University, has named the method as Apical Cutting Technology.

His method involves cutting shoots from a mother potato plant, place the shoots in a tray to allow them to develop roots of their own.

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Nderui said the advantage of his method is that the farmer is sure the seeds he gets are his own and clean. He said the old method of buying seeds from another person leaves the farmer not sure if the seeds are clean.

He hopes farmers will pick his new method to realise its full benefit. His stand was a beehive of activities, during a one-day dairy and poultry show jointly organized by Nyandarua County government and the area branch of Kenya Chamber of Commerce and Industry last week, as curious farmers flocked to inquire about the new way of seed making.

Many bought the shoots to go and try it at their farms. Nderui sales each shoot at Sh10.

“I tried to do potato farming and availability of seeds emerged as the major impediment. That is why I got the motivation to innovate potato seed production because there is a great gap in the availability of quality seeds for farmers,” he said during the show held at the Ol Kalou stadium.

Nderui said he decided to go into potato seed production after realising that the queue of farmers waiting to procure certified seeds from Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) was too long with some being told to wait for six months to get them. He said some of the farmers had paid affront for the seeds.

“I started with 250 cuttings for trial and I managed to get good returns regardless of mistakes within the season. I managed to get the yields I targeted” he said.

Ndarui who is now a registered potato seed merchant said Apical Cutting Technology has high yields adding he produced 105kgs against a target of 100kg in a 50 by 100 trial plot.

Nderui said he has five leased acres under potato seeds, mostly the Shangi species and other varieties like Wanjiku, Lenana and Unica at his Kariamu area on the Ol Kalou-Kipipiri highway.

Since people have not fully embraced seeds he produces using his technology, he also multiplies seeds using the normal method to satisfy the insatiable demand for clean potato seeds. He sells a 50kg bag of certified potato for Sh3,000.