Kenya’s National Treasury imposed a 30 percent duty on potatoes imported from outside the umbrella market of the East Africa Community in early June 2021. Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani said that the imposed duty would go a long way to protect local potato farmers.
Before the directive by the National Exchequer, just 500 farmers in the entire Taita Taveta County grew potatoes, on a small scale. Now, barely three months after the directive, the county boasts 3,800 potato farmers spread across the slopes of Wundanyi and the plains of Mwatate and Taveta.
Although the shifting to potato farming has largely been due to favourable farming and market conditions, there are farmers who are ditching maize due to the time it takes to mature. In the national outlook, potatoes have climbed to clinch the second position in the staple foods’ scales in Kenya after maize.
Kenyanews.go.ke reports that, at a current output of 2 million tons of potatoes each year, Kenya can shore up the production to 8 million tons annually by encouraging and supporting more farmers to join potato farming.
