The county government of Nyandarua has inked a deal with Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) that will see the franchise engage farmers in business.
On Friday, Nyandarua governor Francis Kimemia met KFC CEO for East Africa Jacques Theunissen to set the foundation for KFC to start purchasing frozen potatoes from Nyandarua.
The meeting followed an uproar by Kenyans after KFC announced a shortage of fries at its outlets in December after they ran out of potatoes, which they import as frozen cut fries from countries including South Africa and Egypt.
KFC later announced that it is looking to buy potatoes locally by the end of 2022.
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Following the meeting, the Nyandarua County Government and KFC will establish a joint committee that will help farmers in Nyandarua improve on their potato farming and storage practices to be in line with KFC’s international standards.
According to Theunissen, 80 percent of KFC’s supplies in Kenya come from local suppliers including chicken, vegetables, and buns.
Nyandarua county government on its side banks on the old storage plant at Olkalou that is almost complete to process potatoes before they are dispatched to the market.
“Through the Potato tissue culture project, it will be possible to rapidly multiply any seed variety required by the market. We are using the latest technology to produce quality seeds at our Oljororok seed multiplication unit,” said Kimemia.
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The county is also looking to work with food processors in the county through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model to expand facilities.
Apart from potatoes, KFC said it is planning to start buying cheese from dairy players in Nyandarua.
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