Every potato is unique, some are UNICA

Among the various types of potatoes grown all over the world, there is a particular reddish variety called UNICA, growing in Esther Murugi’s half an acre of land in Laikipia County, Kenya. Named after the University of Ica in southern Peru, where UNICA was initially released in the 1990s, this variety is now being grown by potato farmers across the globe.

And Esther’s farmland is one of those places. In a field sprinkled with purple blossoms, she walks around her farm and digs out some soil around a UNICA potato.

It is barely three months, yet the tubers are big enough to be harvested, Esther mentions contently. This isn’t even her first harvest, and she has plenty left over from her previous harvest. Her family will have enough to eat through to the next harvest without worrying.

Although, this wasn’t always the case.

“Before the introduction of this variety, potato farming, which is our mainstay, had declined, not that we were not planting. We were planting but the harvest was very little – few small tubers. Now you can see the results by yourself,” explains Esther.

Potatoes are not only a staple food source but a livelihood for many farmers in Laikipia. In this region, the climate is generally arid and semi-arid with minimal rains. Farmers faced constant challenges due to inadequate seeds and the short seasonality of the potato crop. This led to the recycling of poor-quality potato seeds to propagate the crop and resulted in the continuation of diseases and pests. When droughts befell the lands, these problems were exacerbated.

In 2020, to help women farmers adapt to the changing climate and increase their crop yields, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) along with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN WOMEN), with funding from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), implemented a climate-smart project.

The Women Economic Empowerment through Climate-Smart Agriculture (WEE-CSA) project was carried out in the three counties – Laikipia, Kitui and West Pokot. Among the several value chain improvements that were promoted through the project, one was the introduction of the UNICA potato variety.

This specific breed, developed by the International Potato Centre, was developed through traditional crossbreeding techniques and then trialled in different climates to ensure it tolerated heat and drought.

UNICA can be grown on both lowlands and highlands, reaches maturity early (three months) and has the innate ability to resist water and heat stress. Its uniqueness also makes it resistant to several viral diseases and the late blight fungus which are common in Laikipia.

“We chose the UNICA potato variety based on the local needs of the farmers, the environmental conditions and in answering to the project goals of building the resilience of potato farmers to climate change using climate-smart techniques. The results are quite impactful,” said Barrack Okoba, the FAO WEE-CSA project manager.

The WEE-CSA project provided women farmers in Laikipia with trainings on how to grow the UNICA potato variety, handle the post-harvest process, as well as find ways to sell their products to the local markets.

Esther is a member of the Ngenia People with Disabilities Self Help Group. She, along with her group, was selected to partake in these training sessions where they learned propagation and production techniques for the UNICA potatoes. The project primarily aimed to reach people with disabilities who sometimes get overlooked for trainings but who are a crucial part of the farming community in Laikipia.

When asked about her training, Esther responds, “We have been potato farmers over the years, but it is the first time we are doing it using apical cuttings which we were given through the WEE-CSA project. They are far better and give us potatoes that fetch better profits and leave us with a lot for our family consumption.” This is because an apical cutting uses tissue culture plants that yields high quality seeds.

In addition, because of these trainings, Esther shares that she no longer uses chemicals to fight the potato late blight disease, as she had with traditional potato varieties, because UNICA is naturally resistant to it. Another aspect of the project included training on financial literacy and as a result, Esther’s group have so far been able to grow their savings to KSH 500 000 (USD 4 000) through their village saving and lending scheme – an informal banking system for farming businesses.

With significant increase in their harvest, a business opportunity also arose in the forms of crisps, bajia (fritter) and chips. Esther’s group packages these potato snacks and distribute them through the local markets for additional income. Going forward, they wish to expand their products to other towns and cities.

At the closure field exhibition, the WEE-CSA project also connected Esther’s group with a local company that specializes in the processing of potatoes and works in collaboration with the Potato Council of Kenya. By promoting partnerships between women potato farmers and local potato businesses, they can increasingly work together to meet the demands in other local markets, ensuring the livelihoods of women farmers and the continuation of sustainable potato production.