Kenya's sweet potato revolution

Led by Motherland, an emerging social enterprise based in Africa, a project in Western Kenya is changing the sweet potato game by partnering with local startups in a first-of-its-kind model to streamline the entire chain.

The result has been a doubling of farmers' incomes, access to guaranteed markets and increase in farm gate prices, which are prices received by farmers for the sale of their crops. The initiative also gives farmers ownership of the project, with the donors' proceeds repatriated to the community.

In Western Kenya, sweet potato is a staple crop grown by tens of thousands of farmers who rely on it for household nutrition and income.

The neglected crop is often categorised among orphaned crops, which are overlooked despite their potential. The sweet potato has proven its value over the years as a food security and poverty alleviation crop for both urban and rural poor in Kenya, especially in the wake of climate change due to its ability to withstand harsh climatic and soil conditions.

Farmers cultivating it have had to contend with challenges such as poor harvests, storage, transportation and lack of stable markets and prices.

In the bustling lakeside county of Siaya in Western Kenya, where Motherland is conducting its project, the crop is roaring back to life, with farmers doubling yields and incomes and accessing year-round markets.

“These groups have been working with farmers across the country by providing unique and homegrown solutions to the challenges that exist in agriculture,” said Nicholas Siso, an agronomist and quality control manager at Motherland. “Bringing them together to streamline the entire sweet potato value chain for the sake of the farmer remains one of the unique selling points of this initiative.”

Details of the 557 farmers, including their names, family size, farm size, source of water, education level, types of farming practices and where they access extension services, are captured in a database and stored in software provided by eProd Solutions. This data assists in understanding how these demographics influence a farmer’s cultivation of sweet potatoes and informs the training a farmer needs.

The project has also trained 32 lead farmers, identified among the other farmers for their good agriculture practices, on quality control of sweet potatoes, grading, sorting and management of the aggregation centre to ensure the project's sustainability. These farmers then transfer the knowledge to their fellow farmers.

Sweet potatoes take, on average, three months to mature. In recent years, farmers have been grappling with pests and diseases that ravage their farms and with erratic weather patterns. However, the most significant loss during harvesting is when cuts, bruises and blights affect the quality of produce, which leads to rejection. This necessitated the Motherland team and partners to organise training sessions on how to produce and handle the produce to ensure the final product meets market standards.

Technology as an agent of change

Once farmers harvest their sweet potatoes, they take them to an aggregation centre, where the produce is sorted and graded. This is a crucial stage to ensure that only high-quality produce is allowed in the market.

The initiative has employed two agents from the local community who visit farmers to check the progress of the sweet potatoes and advise them on good agricultural practices. The agents also operate the aggregation centre.

Jesse Sindala is one of these agents. Outside the aggregation center, he directs farmers who have brought sweet potatoes in wooden crates, instructing them where to place their produce while he checks its quality. His colleague Edwin Otieno stands beside him to manage the flow of farmers. Once the right produce is sorted in a separate crate, it is moved to a digital weighing scale connected to the POS through Bluetooth.

Once the produce is weighed, the eProd system generates transaction details, including the farmer’s name, location, amount of produce delivered and phone number, which are used to prompt payment through the mobile money service MPESA. A farmer is then issued with a receipt. eProd has also developed personalised digital identity cards for every farmer who delivers produce to the centre.

Beyond recognising each farmer, the cards enhance the traceability of produce from farm to fork. In the event of any quality issues, the produce can be traced back to the exact farm.

“Technology has ensured seamless movement of the produce from farms to markets while cutting on costs and time,” said Sindala. “Traceability has also encouraged farmers to work hard to produce quality produce that meets market standards while promoting transparency in payments. It is one of the reasons why more farmers have joined the initiative.”

Growing fortunes

The project has almost doubled farmers' earnings and profits. While traditionally buyers would use eyeball estimates to determine price at the expense of farmers, the current model weighs the produce in kilogrammes. For example, a 90kg sack of sweet potatoes that previously fetched Ksh 2,000 (approximately USD 13) now earns farmers Ksh 3,500 (USD 23). On average, up to 250,000 kg are sold each week.

To insulate farmers from market glut occasioned by oversupply, the project has set up a cold storage room to accommodate up to 3 tonnes of produce to preserve their shelf life for weeks. With the growing production, the project hopes to boost the storage capacity.

Elizabeth Otieno, a 45-year-old mother of eight, is one of the farmers who was given the initiative. On her 0.4 ha farm, she grows maize, beans, cassava and sweet potatoes.

Over the years, she faced various challenges growing sweet potatoes, including pests, diseases and a lack of nearby markets, which slowed down her venture. She has primarily been selling her produce in local markets.

“What I got wasn’t enough to cater to household needs. But since I joined the Motherland initiative this year, I have learnt how to tend my crop and have quality produce, and as a result, I have increased both yields and income. I am also guaranteed a market,” she said, adding that the proceeds from the sweet potatoes have assisted her in educating her children.

Joseph, another farmer who has been farming sweet potatoes alongside other crops for the past three years, said that this year is the first time he has doubled his income. He traditionally sold produce in markets and to intermediaries, and he constantly lost due to poor farm gate prices. Since joining the Motherland project, he has doubled his profits thanks to expanding the area under sweet potato production from a small portion to now 0.2 ha.

“The training on how to tend to the crop and how to harvest to avoid bruising the produce has allowed me to sell all the produce I farm. That motivation has allowed me to expand more space to farm more sweet potatoes, and I will still expand further,” Joseph told FairPlanet.

To ensure that the farmers own the project and sustain its operations, Motherland has set up a community fund with the money it receives from selling sweet potatoes on behalf of the farmers, who go back to the community through the fund.

But the project has also faced headwinds. The fluctuation of prices due to a market oversupply means that sometimes farmers get low prices, which demotivate them.

Failed rains and prolonged drought have also been taking a toll on the quality of sweet potatoes despite the strict market requirements.

A youth-led farming revolution

As the project looks to encourage regenerative agriculture and the need to practice farming that doesn’t harm the soil, it is working with a local primary school, Rapogi Primary School, with a population of 180 pupils aged between four and 12 years.

Among the agricultural practices the children are taught is vermicomposting, a method that uses earthworms to produce organic manure and juice that is not only used as a fertiliser but a natural pesticide, reducing the need to use chemicals that harm the soil and the environment. The pupils are also taught tree planting, raising seedlings, preparing sunken gardens and farming as a business.

The Motherland team visits the school on select days, working with the students from theory to practice.

“We have limited resources in the school, so we mainly train the pupils in the theoretical bit. The project team has complemented that with practical aspects by bringing charts and painting brushes,” said Mr Owiro, the school headteacher.

“They teach the pupils the various stages of crop development through drawing and then show them how to plant various crops in the school gardens. It has not only enhanced their learning, but you can see the pupils’ excitement when they get their hands dirty and do it.” 

Robert Safari, head of community engagement at Motherland, shared that one of the inspirations for working with school children is to excite them about the beauty of sustainable and environmentally friendly farming at an early age and to shift the entrenched perception that farming is a poor man’s job.

“We want the young ones to embrace regenerative agriculture early and transfer that knowledge back home. We want them to plant seeds, watch the crops grow, harvest, eat and even sell the surplus. It is the best way to make them appreciate the beauty of farming at such a tender age,” he said.

In the school garden, the pupils planted various crops such as bananas, pawpaw, sweet potatoes, spinach kales and pumpkins as part of the learning process.

Felix Oduor, a grade six pupil at the school, has been excited to learn the various stages of crop growth in class and watched crops grow in the school garden, some of which he cultivated himself. He has taken that knowledge home.

“When I learnt about sunken beds, I went and started doing it at home and trained my mother. Now, we have a section at home where we grow maize and cabbages using sunken beds. We are able to get food for our family, and my mother is able to sell the other bit,” he enthused.

With the project receiving a stamp of approval from farmers, it is now looking to expand to other crops such as soy and sunflower, which thrive in the area.

The project is also exploring value-adding processes for sweet potatoes to help farmers earn more income and reduce loss and wastage. Farmers have participated in exchange visits with a farmer group in a neighbouring county, learning about value-adding techniques for their sweet potatoes.

“With its culinary possibilities, the versatile sweet potato becomes a catalyst for change in the agricultural sector,” said Motherland co-founder Sebastian Fittko. “As consumers enjoy delicious sweet potato dishes, it's important to remember the farmers who grew them and the startups that helped bring them to the table.” 

Image by Sylvester Catherine.