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Governor dismisses Egerton’s report on Nyandarua potato farming
Governors from the Mt Kenya region have dismissed a recent report from Egerton University that indicates that farmers used harmful pesticides in their potato farming.
The leaders, led by Nyeri County Governor Dr Mutahi Kahiga, termed the research titled ‘Influence of On-farm Pesticide Practices and Processing Methods on Pesticide Residue Levels in Potato Tubers in Nyandarua County, Kenya’, as ‘unfounded rumours’ about Nyandarua’s cash crop.
“Let us stop making unconfirmed rumours about Mt Kenya, and it is very unfortunate that issues of potatoes are splashed all over the newspapers. Even the people who are talking about it even think potatoes grow from the sky,” Kaiga, while speaking at the Nanyuki Agricultural Show, said.
Nyandarua Governor Dr Kiarie Badilisha decried that the potato farmers in his county were under threat and they were not consulted when the research was being conducted.
Added that “after some time you claim you have a report, you are selling to the social media and mainstream media claiming that potatoes are poisoned; its wrong and farmers are here to be trained on good farming methods.’’
He said that it was demonizing the work of hardworking farmers from the region which they would not permit.
“We are not going to entertain anyone who uses any platform to demonise the work that our farmers are doing since they are doing great work and they have no capacity to produce chemicals,” said the Nyandarua boss.
“They only use chemicals that have been approved by the relevant government agencies.”
The governor highlighted that the county and national governments were working in partnership aimed at ensuring the farmers produce quality and healthy food for the country.
Laikipia Governor Joshua Irungu urged other higher institutions of learning to verify the report aimed at instilling confidence in the potato farming sector.
“We are focusing on sustainable agriculture and when information gets out without a good research background, it is worrying. Laikipia is on the verge of producing potatoes on a large scale beyond Nyandarua,” said Irungu.
He called on Chuka, Embu and Laikipia universities to do their own study in order to verify the research findings.
The study report had indicated that 11.85 percent of farmers heeded the recommended manufacturer’s application rate, while 74.63 per cent relied on advice from agrochemical retailers and 13.32 percent sought advice from their counterpart farmers.
The research has since gained widespread criticism from Nyandarua farmers.
Potatoes are Kenya’s second most produced crop after maize and on average, 1.35 million tonnes of produced annually in the country.