Kiambu: Kenya's Potato Sector On Cusp Of Major Transition After Introduction Of Hybrid Variety

• Charles Miller, the director of strategic alliances and development for Solynta, told TUKO.co.ke that they are the first company to hybridise potatoes
• TUKO.co.ke understands that the new potato variety developed by the Dutch company Solynta could greatly reduce the use of pesticides in agriculture
• Charles pitched a tent in Limuru, Kiambu county, where he engaged local farmers in discussing the groundbreaking approach to potato breeding
• On Solynta’s demo farm in Limuru, the company is trying several varieties that have multiple genes and are resistant to late blight (Phytophthora infestans)

Dennis Lubanga, a Kenyan journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings over 10 years of experience covering politics, news, and feature stories across digital and print media in Kenya.

Limuru – The Kenyan government’s efforts to end food insecurity have received a shot in the arm following the development of a new potato variety that is resistant to late blight (Phytophthora infestans).

Against this backdrop, the new potato variety developed by the Dutch company Solynta could greatly reduce the use of pesticides in agriculture.

In an exclusive interview, Charles Miller, the director of strategic alliances and development for Solynta, told TUKO.co.ke that they are the first company to hybridise potatoes.

“Given that we were able to hybridise potatoes, that gives us a tremendous number of things that we can do with that technology. So, we can breed potatoes now to be more sustainable, tastier, and more robust,” he said.

On Monday, November 27, Charles pitched a tent in Limuru, Kiambu county, where he engaged farmers in discussing the groundbreaking approach to potato breeding, which could spell a transformative future for sustainable farming and food security across Africa.

“At the end of the day we want to bring a high-quality potato to the market not just in Kenya but around the world so that we can help farmers solve the many challenges that they face and provide value that hopefully they will appreciate and they will be able to provide food security and earn better income,” Charles explained.

What are the challenges faced by smallholder potato farmers

According to Charles, being based in the Netherlands makes Solynta consider itself a global company.

“So, we work with potato farmers from across the world but when you think about the challenges of potato farmers. One of the diseases that pops up is late blight (Phytophthora Infestans) which reduces the potential of the global potato crop by 30% annually. That is huge. Imagine the assets, resources, and time that the farmers globally are facing to have 30% of that impacted negatively.”

He disclosed that several years ago in Ireland, there was the potato famine, where millions of people lost their lives because of this potato disease.

“So, this has been ongoing for centuries, and what we wanted to do with our technology was to see if there was a way to solve some of the challenges that our farmers face," he explained.

Charles said that when the company zoomed down to Kenya, they noticed that this was a very big issue here. Just like in other countries across the world, entire crops are lost every season.

“And it is not because there are no fungicides that are available to spray; it can be done. But if you want to control late blight, you have to spray your potato crop constantly and effectively. And most small-scale farmers maybe have backpack sprayers, so they spray on too, but to be able to control late blight, you have to spray from the bottom up,” he disclosed.

On Solynta’s demo farm in Limuru, the company is trying several varieties that have multiple genes and are resistant to late blight.

“There are some varieties that died completely due to a lack of spray. Others remained green, healthy, and strong. And this is what we want our farmers to embrace,” he added.

What Solynta is doing about environmental conservation

Charles said that as a company, they are quite critical of giving what they call integrated pass management to provide options both with chemical sprays and biological and organic mechanisms on how best to raise potatoes.

“No one is perfect, but we believe we provide farmers with as many options as can be made to keep the land sustainable and healthy. When I look across the portfolio of the farmers who are adopting our technology here in Kenya and the entire East African region, surprisingly, the ones that adopted it first were organic farmers,” he explained.

Charles reiterated that the farmers adopted the potato variety because they felt confident that without too many chemicals and anything except organic fertiliser, be it composed of manure, etc., they could produce a good crop that is good for them to go to the market and help them make a good living, and they have not been able to achieve this with the traditional potato varieties.

“For instance, we have a lady around here in Limuru, who owns an organic farm where she provides 150 to 200 families with food weekly and she goes directly to the market in Nairobi. For the very first time in 15 years, she is providing potatoes to the market thanks to the technology that we are bringing,” said Charles.

How Solynta is helping the community with capacity

Charles said that at Solynta, they believe in doing things together.

“And there is an old saying here in Kenya that when you want to go a long distance and you want to go well, then go together. If you want to go quickly, then go alone. So, we believe in going together, and that's why we work with so many people who are stakeholders in the potato value chain, including organisations like the National Potato Council,” he said.

He further told TUKO.co.ke that they have created a cordial working relationship with the National Potato Council so that they could best understand the issues faced by the potato farmers.

“We could share with them (farmers) how we thought we could help and get their feedback on what they see from our products, and that feedback is what we use in our breeding programme so that we can constantly improve on what we are providing and we can also learn from them again so that we can understand the growing practices and how they would like to do things. And this way is very much a sharing and capacity-building group as opposed to one way.”

Why potato breeding

Charles said that potatoes are the third most produced food crop in the world, and they are produced so much because they bring a lot of nutritional qualities to the table depending on the amount of input you provide them with.

“So, they have as much or more potassium than, let's say, bananas; they have carbohydrates; they have fibre if you say the skin. But all in all, they provide food and energy, and they are quite sustainable because they use about 40% less water,” he said.

What climate challenges mean to sustainable agriculture

Charles said that thinking about the climate challenges that not only Kenyans or East Africans face but are faced globally, there is a need to start thinking about food crops that provide a very good balance between the inputs (water, chemicals, time, and labour) relative to the number of calories produced.

“So even if you look at traditional grain crops like sorghum, millet, or even maize and compare them to potatoes, there is some tipping point with these crops, unlike potatoes,” he explained.

Earlier, TUKO.co.ke reported that agriculture is the backbone of Nyandarua's economy due to the fertile soils and favourable climate.

Nyandarua is considered Kenya's food basket due to its high production of horticulture, poultry, and dairy for the local and global markets.

But when TUKO.co.ke recently visited the region, it was established that, for a long time, farmers had previously found a raw deal from brokers who offered meagre payments for their goods, especially during peak seasons.