国产精品99一区二区三_免费中文日韩_国产在线精品一区二区_日本成人手机在线

Kenya roots for streamlined potato value chains to boost food security

Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-07 19:59:54|Editor: xuxin
Video PlayerClose

NAIROBI, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Kenya has developed a strategy to streamline the potato value chains in order to boost food security and revenues for small-holder farmers, officials said on Thursday.

Lusike Wasilwa, director of crop systems at Kenya Agriculture Livestock Research Organization (KARLO) said that reorganizing potato value chains from production, storage and marketing is key to achieve the country's development blueprint, dubbed the Big Four Agenda on food security.

"We need to support the potato sector, ensure farmers have access to certified seeds, improved storage facilities and technologies to add value to the crop," said Wasilwa.

Potato is Kenya's second most important staple after maize with government statistics indicating that farmers produce an estimated 3 million metric tons of the tuber annually.

Wasilwa said Kenya has the potential to produce 8 to 10 metric tons of potato annually subject to availability of disease-and-pest resistant varieties coupled with improved agronomic practices at small-holder level.

"Kenya could soon become a market leader in production of potatoes across the region if we scale up investments in research on climate smart varieties, and engage the private sector to ensure farmers have access to clean seeds," said Wasilwa.

She revealed that three climate smart potato varieties have already been released into the market and will be grown in eight counties.

Kenya has more than 800,000 farmers who grow potatoes on 100,000 hectares of land while climatic stresses, diseases, pests, loss of soil fertility and fragmentation of land have undermined production of the staple crop.

Hosea Machuki, chief executive officer of Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya (FPEAK) urged action on high cost of inputs and knowledge deficit among farmers to boost potato yields in the country.

"Currently, Kenya still lags behind Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa and Egypt in production of potatoes and that is why we require new policy direction to reverse this trend," said Machuki.

He proposed a robust partnership between industry and county governments to address distorted value chains that have denied potato farmers a stable revenue.

TOP STORIES
EDITOR’S CHOICE
MOST VIEWED
EXPLORE XINHUANET
010020070750000000000000011100001378763081
主站蜘蛛池模板: 阿坝| 修文县| 桦南县| 库尔勒市| 民乐县| 安岳县| 界首市| 江安县| 同德县| 图片| 九龙县| 通山县| 任丘市| 信阳市| 财经| 卢湾区| 都江堰市| 兰坪| 福安市| 资源县| 宁都县| 衡水市| 闽清县| 永嘉县| 乾安县| 光山县| 通道| 清丰县| 樟树市| 贵州省| 武义县| 石家庄市| 古浪县| 双峰县| 威信县| 温泉县| 阿坝县| 康保县| 鹤壁市| 广宗县| 石门县|