Scaling Potato Seed production in East Africa

Abstract

This short film is showcasing the impact of quality potato seed on smallholder farmers and local communities in Kenya. It describes how Kisima Farm, with some help from SFSA, grew to become one of the largest producers of certified potato seed in Kenya.
With 2'000 tons of production a year, Kisima is now the largest local potato seed producer in East Africa. The aim is to show that the scale of their operation is a big part of what makes them successful and that this has encouraged other producers to imitate their business model. This is of course of great benefit to Kenya's food security and economy.

This project is run by our Seeds2B team which helps farmers access quality, affordable seeds of improved varieties for the crops they need. Access to Seeds includes also investments in plant breeding and technology transfer of new varieties to smallholders.

The Syngenta Foundation operates across product streams following a pipeline approach. Our current streams are:
- Agriservices
- Risk Management and Financial Inclusion for smallholder farmers, implementing and scaling up affordable agricultural insurance products and risk transfer mechanism to access credit;
- Access to Seeds