Rekindling dreams: one clean potato seed at a time.
AVCD / CIP / Crops / East Africa / Kenya / Livelihoods / Value chains

Rekindling dreams: one clean potato seed at a time.

This March in Nkuene Ward, Meru County, potatoes were in flower, farmers were busy in their potato farms attending to their precious cash crop. Decentralized seed multipliers also known as Village Potato Advisors (VPAs) are busy too, doing a routine follow-up on farmers’ plots advising them on crop management of at this critical stage. Continue reading

Village potato advisor sees a brighter future in potato farming
AVCD / CIP / Countries / Crops / East Africa / Kenya / Partners / Regions / Value chains

Village potato advisor sees a brighter future in potato farming

Written by Raymond Jumah and Dave Priest (FIPS-Africa) FIPS VPA Edward Kirinya harvesting the Sherekea potato variety. He planted 50 kg in July and has harvested 1,322 kg in November 2016. Photo: Raymond Jumah/FIPS-Africa A cool breeze sweeps across Kioru village in Abothuguchi West ward, bringing freshness to the otherwise misty agricultural highlands of Meru … Continue reading

AVCD / Crops / East Africa / ICRISAT / Kenya / Value chains

Smart Food Nutrition Activities Kicks Off in Kenya

To improve the nutritional status of women in the reproductive age and children below five years, an awareness drive under the Smart Food campaign has been launched in selected counties in Kenya. The aim is to promote increased consumption of nutrient dense, drought tolerant crops (sorghum, millets, pigeonpea, groundnut, cowpea and green gram) and appropriate … Continue reading

AVCD / CIP / Crops / Kenya / Value chains

Village Potato Multipliers will accelerate access to clean seed with good agronomy in Meru – Farmer

Eight months after rolling out into the field, Farm Input Promotions Africa (FIPS-Africa) has established 73 decentralised seed multipliers (also known as Village-Potato Advisors (VPAs) in Meru County. The VPAs are supported through US government funded program Feed the Future Kenya Accelerated Value Chain Development (AVCD) Program in partnership with the International Potato Centre (CIP) … Continue reading

AVCD / Crops / ICRISAT / Kenya / Value chains

Forging multi-sectoral partnerships to tackle malnutrition in Kenya

Exploring how best to approach multi-sectoral collaboration and how to develop a comprehensive, robust nutrition strategy that is in line with the priorities of the Kenyan government were the issues explored at a two-day workshop recently.  The multi-sectoral partnership with agriculture, health and education sectors, is being used in Kenya to mainstream nutrition into agricultural … Continue reading