A delegation from Kenya is turning to the potato industry in P.E.I. to help develop their important crop back home.
“We’ve been told big stories about potato production in Canada, especially in Prince Edward Island,’’ says Kiraitu Murungi, governor of Meru County, the top producer of potatoes in Kenya.
“So, we thought this was the best place for us to come for a study tour of potatoes.’’
Murungi is joined by several other officials for a busy three-day tour of Island potato operations.
Murungi says he is very impressed with production here and hopes to incorporate some of the practices in Meru County where there is plenty of room to upgrade.
Meru County produces about 200,000 tons of potatoes each year, all for domestic use, on farms typically five to 10 acres in size.
Expensive farm machinery is nowhere in sight.
“We plant manually, harvest manually, spray manually,’’ says Murungi.
“We will see what we can borrow from Canada and adopt it to the Kenyan conditions to see whether we can increase our potato productivity (by) bringing in some formal processing and mechanization in our production.’’
Farmers Helping Farmers, a P.E.I.-based not-for-profit organization which helps build sustainable agriculture in communities in Kenya, is hosting the delegation.
“The staple food in Kenya is corn but the second most popular food that people eat is potatoes,’’ says Teresa Mellish, the organization’s coordinator.
“They need better seed, they need better storage for their potatoes…we are showing how our potato industry is keeping our seed good here in P.E.I.’’
Farmers Helping Farmers have carried out many development projects in Kenya since 1980 working with farmers, women’s groups and schools.
“Farmers Helping Farmers are popular in Kenya because they don’t come with ideas that they impose on the Kenyan farmers,’’ notes Murungi.
“They come first, stay with our farmers, understand our farmers. They work with the farmers and they just try to improve what the farmers are doing.’’
The delegation began their visit to Canada Thursday with a tour of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Station before visiting the McCains operation.
The delegation departed P.E.I. for home Sunday morning.
