By:Ronoh Nathan

The Feed the Future Kenya Accelerated Value Chain Development (AVCD) program implemented by a consortium of CGIAR centers, sought to harness the technologies and innovations within the research system ‘to sustainably reduce poverty and hunger in Kenya with the objective of increasing inclusive agricultural growth and improving nutritional status of communities.

In phase 1, the potato value chain, led by the International Potato Center (CIP), supported 46,700 smallholder farmers with technologies to improve farm productivity and engage in market systems. The seed system for potato was scaled out to reach farmers who previously did not have access to quality seed by transforming 150 progressive farmers into seed multiplier businesses. One such progressive farmer is Samuel Kibet Sugut who is providing clean seed to potato farmers using a newly introduced technology—rooted apical cuttings. A few months ago, his story was published in the weekly magazine insert, Seeds of Gold, in the Saturday Nation newspaper in Kenya. A crosspost is available below:

In the quiet Kipsirigo village in Nandi County, a new agribusiness is picking up.

Samuel Kibet Sugut is among those who have embraced the new agribusiness, which involves the multiplication of Irish potato planting materials, having abandoned dairy farming to concentrate on the cash cow.

Sugut, who was a dairy farmer for 15 years, has seen a bright future in the production of the disease-free materials that many farmers are turning to. As he prepares his small piece of land for planting, his phone keeps ringing every few minutes, with nearly all the callers enquiring about the availability of seeds given that the short rain season is just around the corner.