Seed to fries: the Kenyan hosts of the World Potato Congress

When the World Potato Congress opens in Naivasha this October, two of its hosts will be a living illustration of the problem the gathering exists to tackle — and of Kenya's attempt to solve it. The National Potato Council of Kenya (NPCK) and FreshCrop are co-staging the event, and between them they trace the full arc the sector is trying to build: from clean seed in the ground to processed fries on a plate.

FreshCrop is the more improbable story. Founded by Chris and Ashley Gasperi, who planted four acres of idle land before formally launching the company in 2019, it has grown into one of Kenya's largest certified seed producers, with operations across Nakuru, Nyandarua and Narok and a network of more than 15,000 smallholder farmers. Mentored by Ontario grower and current Congress president Peter VanderZaag and by the International Potato Center, the company runs what it calls a one-stop shop: certified seed, inputs, mechanisation, agronomy training and a guaranteed buyer. It is now building a French-fry processing plant and a biofertiliser facility to close the loop, turning the crop its growers raise into a finished product.

NPCK plays the connective role. A public-private partnership that coordinates the potato value chain, it has poured much of its recent effort into Viazi Soko, a digital platform that lets farmers order certified seed, inputs and market access from a mobile phone, with deliveries handled by a logistics partner and every bag carrying a Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service certification label. The aim is to route farmers away from the informal trade in recycled tubers that has long defined Kenyan potato growing.

That trade is the heart of the matter. Most Kenyan farmers still replant saved seed, which degenerates and spreads disease, holding national yields well below potential; a single variety, Shangi, accounts for roughly 90 percent of the market. FreshCrop says its certified seed is several times more productive than the recycled or imported material many farmers rely on — the kind of gain the whole system is chasing.

Hosting the Congress puts these models in front of the global industry at the moment they most need capital and partners to scale. Whether a 15,000-farmer network and a seed-ordering app can reach the hundreds of thousands of smallholders still outside the certified system is the question Naivasha will begin to answer.