By Francis Ndungu

Seraphine Njeri, a single mother of three from Kiamaina Ward in Nakuru County, has increased her earnings from potatoes nearly ten-fold by turning her harvest into chips using a simple jua kali cutting machine. From selling a sack for under Sh1,000, she is now earning over Sh9,600 per sack in cooked chips, though at the cost of long hours and hard work.

Seraphine nearly gave up on potato farming after prices dropped to Sh650 a sack despite months of work. “I felt disappointed to the point I almost quit potato farming and ventured into something else,” she said.

She considered starting a dairy project to meet her family’s milk needs, but the costs were beyond her reach. “A heifer goes for Sh50,000 and a small structure would consume the same amount, which I couldn’t afford at the moment,” she said. Buying milk for Sh70 per litre was straining her budget, and she was desperate for an alternative.

Then, during a visit to Nakuru town, she bought a plate of chips for Sh150 and was shocked by the price—especially knowing how cheap potatoes were at the time. The woman selling them explained she used just three potatoes for the portion. As Seraphine watched her prepare the chips, she noticed a manual cutting machine.

“The chip cutter was very fast and chopped one potato at a time. I admired the machine and asked the lady about it. To my surprise, it only cost Sh5,000,” said Seraphine. Inspired, she returned home and used her farming savings to start a small chips business.

Seraphine rented a small room in the local shopping centre, bought the chip cutter and a gas cooker, and set up a simple hotel. She bought basic utensils and furniture, and registered her business with Nakuru County. “I opened a small hotel to add value to my potatoes and avoid the price crash during harvest season,” she said.

With just two chips sellers in the area, her business quickly gained popularity. She hired a helper and saw demand grow. “In three days, I was able to sell a sack of potatoes. Later, I sold two buckets per day, earning more than Sh1,600 from each,” she said.

To serve her growing clientele, Seraphine started preparing more meals using produce from her farm and added an M-Pesa service to her shop. “I was waking up at 5am to manage the farm and hotel. It was exhausting, but it paid off. By evening, I could pocket Sh5,000,” she said.

With demand high, Seraphine expanded her potato farming to ensure constant supply. “I couldn’t afford to run out. I had to plan my planting and harvesting very carefully,” she said. She also diversified her crops, growing beans, maize, cabbage, tomatoes, onions and peppers to reduce her input costs and provide ingredients for her hotel.

She shifted from chemical fertilisers to chicken manure from her poultry project. “Chicken manure has phosphorus for tubers, potassium for health, and nitrogen for growth. It’s also much cheaper and increases microbial activity in the soil,” she said.

Even after liming her acidic soil in 2022, her yields had dropped to just 13 bags from a quarter-acre, down from 25. Soil testing showed chemical fertiliser was harming her land. Switching to chicken manure boosted her yields dramatically. “It raised my production from 23 to 40 bags in half an acre,” she said. She even expanded her poultry numbers from 100 to 150 to generate more manure.

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She carefully collects the manure, shades it for two weeks before planting to avoid nutrient loss, and uses a bucket to place two handfuls in each furrow spaced 75cm apart, planting potatoes 30cm apart. “This spacing improves air circulation and reduces blight,” she said.

To speed up harvests and beat market gluts, she uses chitting—pre-sprouting seeds in a dark room covered with dry grass. “Sprouted seeds grow and mature faster. It helped me get to market before others, until everyone else adopted it too,” she said.

Seraphine uses organic boosters during flowering to increase tuber size and sprays Ridomil Gold fungicide for blight control. “It’s expensive but effective, both preventive and curative,” she said.

Harvesting is done with pangas to avoid damage, and handled mostly by women. “Damaged potatoes don’t store well,” she noted. She thoroughly washes and dries her potatoes, storing them over dry grass in a well-lit area to prevent sprouting. Seed potatoes are kept in dark rooms for chitting.

Using the potatoes to make chips freed her from middlemen, who underpaid and tampered with sack weights. “Now I control my prices and I don’t waste any potatoes,” she said. She added three more staff, two on chips and one on other foods, while she managed the operation.

Her chip-making is simple but effective. “After peeling, I press each potato in the cutter and the slices drop into a clean bucket. I use less than four litres of cooking oil per day. I serve the chips with kachumbari made from my own onions, tomatoes and pepper,” she said.

As a result, her daily turnover has grown steadily. “From a single sack I now make Sh9,600 in four days, compared to less than Sh1,000 before. It’s been a long journey, but I’m proud of where I am,” she said.