How to Ensure Massive Sweet Potato Harvest in Kenya

In a previous article, we had done the complete cost breakdown on what it could cost you to plant an acre of sweet potatoes and how much you would earn from such an investment. It was a complete cost breakdown that shows brief point by point information on the costs and potential revenues. As an experienced sweet potato farmer, I have seen that sweet potato farming could potentially make you rich but it could also make your poor depending on how and where you approach the farming business.

An acre of sweet potato could make you anywhere from Ksh.80,000 to Ksh.120,000 but that if you deploy the best practices when planting your sweet potatoes. There are certain useful steps that you will need to undertake in order to guarantee a good harvest. These include the following:-

· Plant your sweet potatoes on land where no sweet potatoes or root tubers have been planted in the past year. If you plant your sweet potatoes frequently, it is good to plant once a year and then rotate it with other crops such as maize, beans, groundnuts etc.

· Prepare land during the dry seasons and let it settle. Give time for all the weeds to dry up before the rainy season begins. Prepare fresh ridges or mounds just before the planting begins. This will prevent them from “hardening” and allows planters to insert the vines deep into the soil which will allow for the formation of sweet potato tubers without exposure. Exposure of sweet potato tubers to sunlight over a long duration of time generally damages them over time.

· Procure good quality sweet potato planting materials: Buy good quality sweet potato vines from a reliable sweet potato supplier. It is good to plant young vines that are two to three months old. Only vines that are healthy and free of diseases or pests should be picked for replanting.

· Plant your sweet potatoes at the onset of rains. Hire experienced planters who know how to plant the sweet potato vines for maximum yields.

· Weed the sweet potatoes two months. You may need to replant the mounds or ridges where the vines might have withered.  Wait for your harvest in three to four months time.

Need sweet potato vines? Email freerangefarming.info@gmail.com or call 0725 772524