• A researcher says Irish potatoes should take about two weeks to dry from the time of harvest
• This allows some chemical compounds that were in pesticides used to spray the crop to break down and the crop to fully mature
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The rush to cash in on good prices has pushed farmers to harvest immature potatoes.
The price of Irish potatoes in the market is slowly going down but the quality of the produce is poor due to immature harvesting.
Timothy Njagi, a senior researcher from Tegemeo Institute, said farmers are harvesting immature potatoes in a rush to sell the produce.
Njagi said potatoes should take about two weeks to dry from the time of harvest.
This is meant to allow some chemical compounds to break down and also to have the potatoes mature fully.
“The quality of Irish potatoes being sold in the market is low but there is no risk implication to that. It just compromises on the quality of the produce,” Njagi said.
A kilo of Irish potatoes is currently selling at between Sh50 to Sh80 from a high of Sh90 to Sh120 two weeks ago. A bucket is selling at about Sh700 from Sh1,000 to Sh1,300 two weeks ago.
Early this month, the Ministry of Agriculture put traders violating the 50kg potato packaging regulation on notice.
The Crops (Irish Potato) Regulations, 2019 states that the unit of measurement of all Irish potatoes shall be the kilogramme. The maximum weight for each single unit of package of Irish potatoes shall be 50kg.
The regulation seeks to guide the promotion, development and regulation of production and trade in Irish potatoes.
During an interview with the media, Agriculture PS Kello Harsama raised concern over the continued violation of the regulations. This has resulted in farmers being exploited by traders and brokers.
For a long time, potato farmers have been grappling with exploitation from brokers over weight issues. The regulation was introduced to limit the weight to 50kg a bag from 110kg.
“In 2021 and early 2022 production years, the Government enforced Crops (Irish Potato) Regulations 2019,” Harsama said.
“The enforcement worked well but the process stalled for some time, which led to traders reverting to selling potatoes in extended bags after exploiting farmers.”
The PS directed the Agriculture and Food Authority to enforce the law and to help in restoring sanity in the industry.
National Potato Council of Kenya CEO Wachira Kaguongo said unscrupulous traders have been exploiting farmers, and this taints the good name of value chains who uphold ethics.
“We are aware of the bogus traders who are taking advantage of the situation,” Wachira said.
“We are in touch with various Government agencies to ensure ethics are observed in the market. We are fully behind the Government's intentions to restore sanity in the multibillion potato industry.”