Farmers in Githunguri Sub-County have been advised to stop over reliance on maize production and instead embark on potato farming as it has better returns compared to maize.
Speaking to farmers during a seminar at Waruhiu farm in Githunguri on Thursday, the assistant agricultural officer, Mr Moses Kuria said farmers should take up potato farming since maize production is not guaranteed due to the maize lethal necrosis disease outbreak.
The officer revealed that they are considering adapting the USA farming system where maize is grown as animal feed while potatoes are grown for human consumption.
The agricultural officer urged the farmers to embrace potato farming arguing that the current weather patterns are no longer predictable.
"We have opted to advocate for potato farming since they only take 67 days to mature and only need minimal water or rainfall unlike maize which takes three months to grow with adequate rainfall," said Kuria.
He added that potato farming only requires a small size of land unlike maize farming which requires large chunks of land for spacing purposes.
Kuria advised farmers to know their target market when planting since it determines their crop spacing.