
Cassava and sweet potato are tubers that do well in various temperatures and their availability can be all year round when good farming practices are followed thus can help to curb food insecurity. “The benefit of orange fleshed sweet potato is unlimited. In a word: Multipurpose. It’s a crop that is good for human cattle consumption and health, increasing nutrition and also boosting our income” Peris quotes.
Peris chebii is a farmer in Baringo sandai location in Sokoteiwo village. She has been farming, maize and paw paw in her 2 acre farm. Her family depend on this garden for livelihood but she generates income from maize farming which she have to wait for a whole year and after getting the profit from maize it doesn’t last for even 3 months before she exhaust everything. She has been willing to change her enterprise to a much higher generating income crop but she didn’t know which one to choose.
Last year she was fortunate to meet seed savers network through her a group of which she is the chairlady of this Emkwen women group in sandai. She received training and also she was given sweet potato vines and cassava cuttings for planting. Peris has so far multiplied the vines and has covered an eighth of her land portion. Currently peris awaits to sell her sweet potato tubers in June this year but before that she is now selling sweet potato vines to neighbors and she gets 500 daily as she sells the vines at a cost of 2ksh per vine.
“I’m glad that I got this seeds and in future am going to expand my sweet potato area and other root crops since they don’t require much water and still they do well even under any temperature various temperatures. Am also happy that I give my kids a healthy breakfast and can skip lunch when they take sweet potatoes in the morning. I thank seed savers network for this training and seeds.” She says.