Growing sweet potatoes involves planting vines on ridges which gives them enough space and loose soil to form the root system going downwards hence some are bigger than others.
The Bungoma variety which is the most common variety of sweet potato in the market has red skin and the inside is yellow and is common to most Kenyans. The other variety is the all- range fleshed sweet potato which has orange flesh. Planting the vines involves digging a small hole on top of the ridge and putting the sweet potato vine inside then covering with soil. The vine will form a tuber growing downwards the ridge. The vines face one direction and ridges will prevent soil erosion.
Best conditions
Sweet potatoes do very well in areas with rainfall averages of 750-1000 mm per year but some varieties do well in fairly dry conditions. Sweet potatoes do not require a lot of labour other than adding fertilizers, pesticides since it is a very hardy plant.
Sweet potatoes act as a cover crop hence rarely will you get weeds growing. Sweet potato leaves can be mixed with sukuma wiki or spinach to make stew and are also good fodder for chicken and goats.
