Since 2012 GROOTS Kenya has supported women potato farmers to increase production and access markets. In 2014, the farmers began complaining about losses due to low prices negotiated by brokers. Thus GROOTS Kenya together with the potato farmers piloted a dialogue initiative on a policy to minimize losses through low prices.
The solution was
The women organized themselves and lobbied the county government of Nakuru to regulate the potato pricing, but Kenya’s first potato-packaging bill failed to pass as key players including the brokers were not involved. Furthermore, the brokers threatened to stop buying potatoes from Nakuru and move to other potato producing counties like Nyandarua.
Against this background, GROOTS Kenya pushed the dialogue to the national level and brought in potato farmers from other counties like Nyandarua.