The Kenyan Agriculture Food Authority (AFA) has told greedy traders that the nation will not budge in its enforcement of a law limiting potato packaging to 50kgs.
AFA Director General Kello Harsama has warned individuals who are reported to have held strikes in Wakulima and Muthurwa Markets that the Crops (Irish Potato) Regulations of 2019 is here to stay. According to Harsama, this will indeed protect the interest of farmers who, for ages, have been exploited by cartels in the potato trade. Harsama reprimanded the traders whom he also blamed for the misrepresentation and misinformation of facts via social media platforms hence misleading the public on the regulations.
Kbc.co.ke quoted Harsama as saying: “We condemn these actions and ask the public to ignore false information regarding the Irish Potato regulations and I urge the public to read and educate themselves of the Regulations available on the internet.”
The AFA Director General last week made various visits in potato growing counties including major markets in Nairobi to oversee the enforcement of potato regulations. “The cartels who have thrived in the previous dispensation of confusion, malpractices and corruption continue to fight the Government by threatening farmers and traders who seek to comply with the law,” he observed.
Before these provisions, farmers lamented that unscrupulous brokers would package their produce in extended bags of up to 250kgs and force farmers to sell them at the price of 50kgs bag.