In this article
Key takeaways
- Roots spoil in days. Cassava needs processing within a day or two of harvest.
- Kenya grows about 1.2 million tonnes of cassava and needs nearly 3 million.
- High quality cassava flour takes about 5.5 kg of fresh roots a kilo.
- At the glut price, your flour must beat KSh 55 a kilo to match a raw sale.
- Only 6 to 8% of Kenya's potatoes go into value addition, says one processor.
- Run a 100 kg trial before you buy a machine.
Are you wondering which root crop pays best once you process it? In this post, you see how many kilos of roots make a kilo of product. You learn which variety suits which product. You get 13 processing routes with listed machine prices.
The situation that cuts your income is the clock. Roots spoil within days of harvest, and every farmer digs at the same time. You sell raw roots at the lowest price of the year.
This guide gives you three things. You see which roots Kenya cannot grow fast enough. You see the clock, the yield and the variety for each crop. You see how to test one product on 100 kg before you invest.
Roots spoil in days. Dry flour keeps for months.
Processing roots pays when you beat the raw price and meet a buyer. Cassava has the widest gap, at about 1.2 million tonnes grown against nearly 3 million needed. It takes about 5.5 kg of roots to make 1 kg of flour. Weigh a 100 kg trial first, then add a mill or chipper.
The clock Where is demand? Kilos per kilo Which variety? 13 ideas Worked acre
Roots Rot Fast: The Clock That Decides Your Margin
Each root crop gives you a different deadline. Plan your labour, dryer and buyers around it.
The clock for each root crop
| Crop | What the clock allows | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Cassava | Process within a day or two of harvest for good flour (IITA). The FAO guide says within 24 hours, using roots 10 to 12 months old (FAO). | Packaged flour keeps about six months. |
| Sweet potato | Wilt peeled roots for a few hours, slice them, then sun-dry about four days to 11 to 12% moisture (Owori and Agona). | Dried chips store far longer than fresh roots. |
| Potato | Limited storage and cooling restricts when you can sell (World Potato Markets, April 2026). Some processors book seed about six months ahead (PotatoPro). | Match harvest to your buyer's delivery day. |
| Arrowroot and yams | We found no reliable national data on handling. | Test a small batch first. |
Cassava timings come from two sources that differ slightly. Plan for the shorter one.
Processing changes the clock. Dry flour and dried chips keep for months, so you sell when prices recover. That is the whole business case for roots.
Where Demand Beats Supply: Potato, Cassava, Sweet Potato and Arrowroot
Check the market before you choose a crop. Each row below shows how much Kenya grows and where buyers still want more.
Supply and demand for four root crops
| Crop | Supply | Demand signal |
|---|---|---|
| Potato | Kenya grew 2.118 million tonnes in 2024 on 225,950 ha. Yields average about 10 t/ha. About 90% comes from farms of half to two acres (World Potato Markets, April 2026). | Chip and crisp demand outstrips supply (CGIAR, December 2024). Processed imports reached 940 tonnes in 2025, 670 tonnes from Egypt (World Potato Markets). Only 6 to 8% of potatoes are value added, says one processor (PotatoPro, October 2026). |
| Cassava | About 1.2 million tonnes a year (Agri Focus Africa, July 2026). In 2022, Kenya grew 946,076 tonnes on 61,592 ha (Kenya News Agency, October 2023). | Demand is nearly 3 million tonnes. Uganda and Tanzania cover the gap. Flour, feed, starch and paper all use cassava (Capital FM). |
| Sweet potato | Low western supply more than doubled orange-fleshed prices in 2022, to USD 0.29 a kilo. The level is not stated (Tridge, September 2022). | Puree can replace 20 to 45% of wheat flour in baked goods (CGIAR RTB, 2017). |
| Arrowroot and yams | We found no reliable national output figures. | Fresh arrowroot retails near KSh 40 a kilo, a web estimate (Selina Wamucii, June 2026). |
Figures keep the year of their source. Treat the arrowroot price as a rough guide, not a quote.
Read the cassava row first. Production meets well under half of demand. Buyers import the rest, so a local processor has a ready market (Agri Focus Africa).
Potato is different. Supply is large, so your edge is quality and consistency. The Standard cites estimates that local output meets about 40% of demand for potato products (October 2026). Treat that share as an estimate, not a count.
How Many Kilos of Roots Make a Kilo of Product?
Your cost starts with the root, so measure the yield first. IITA says cassava needs about 5.5 tonnes of fresh roots per tonne of high quality cassava flour. That is a yield near 18% (IITA).
Kilos of fresh roots per kilo of product
| Product | Roots needed | What sets it |
|---|---|---|
| Cassava flour (high quality) | About 5.5 kg | IITA. Quality flour needs fast processing. |
| Sweet potato flour or dried chips | 2.8 to 6.3 kg at most | Arithmetic from the 15.8 to 36.1% dry matter range (Owori and Agona). Peeling and drying losses add more. |
| Potato chips and crisps | No reliable Kenyan ratio found | Variety, slice thickness and oil use all change it. |
| Arrowroot chips and flour | No reliable ratio found | Weigh a trial batch. |
The sweet potato range is 1 divided by the dry matter share. It is a ceiling, not a measured yield.
Dry matter sets the ceiling for sweet potato. A root with 24% dry matter holds at most 24 kg of solids in 100 kg. Kabode, a variety tested in Rwanda, measured 24.0% and scored better for crisps (CIP, 2023).
Pick the Variety for the Product
The same field gives different products from different varieties. Choose the variety before you plant, not after you harvest.
- 1
- 2Sweet potato. A higher dry matter root fries better. Kabode scored best for crisps. Terimbere, at 21.0% dry matter, suited puree (CIP). Wet roots give oilier crisps (Owori and Agona).
- 3Cassava. Choose low-cyanide, less bitter varieties for processing. Harvest at 10 to 12 months (FAO).
- 4Arrowroot and yams. Test chips and flour with five buyers before you scale.
Bitter cassava roots hold cyanogenic compounds. The FAO guide links poisoning to very bitter roots and poor processing (FAO). Coastal farmers combine peeling, soaking, sun drying and oven drying to cut cyanide (RUFORUM, 2018). Use low-cyanide varieties and confirm your method with KEBS before you sell.
13 Root Crop Processing Business Ideas for Potato, Cassava, Sweet Potato and Arrowroot
Start at the top of the table. Each step adds more value and needs more money. Prices are listed asking prices checked on 9 and 10 November 2026 for our machines guide. They are not supplier quotes.
13 root crop business ideas, buyers and the first machine
13 of 13 ideas shown
Primary: sell the root cleaner
1Washed, graded, packed roots
Crop Potato, sweet potato, arrowroot
Buyers Supermarkets, hotels, schools
First machineNo machine
Sacks, scale and wash tank. No machine needed.
Secondary: cut, dry and grind
2Fresh-cut chips
Crop Potato
Buyers Hotels, kiosks, fast-food outlets
First machineListed price
Manual chipper KSh 1,839 to 3,210 (Jumia). Needs chilling.
3Crisps
Crop Potato (round tubers)
Buyers Shops, schools, kiosks
First machineGet quotes
Slicer and fryer: get quotes. Heat sealer KSh 3,500 (Formulators Hub).
4
5Cassava flour
Crop Cassava
Buyers Bakeries, households, flour blenders
First machineListed price
Small electric mill KSh 11,399 to 15,120 (Jumia).
6Sweet potato flour
Crop Orange-fleshed sweet potato
Buyers Bakers, households
First machineListed price
Same dryer and mill as cassava.
7Sweet potato crisps and dried chips
Crop Sweet potato
Buyers Shops, schools
First machineGet quotes
Dehydrator as above. Get a quote for a slicer.
8Arrowroot chips and flour
Crop Arrowroot
Buyers Shops, households
First machineListed price
1 kg grinder KSh 13,630 (Jumia).
9Animal feed from peels and chips
Crop Cassava, culled potatoes
Buyers Feed mixers, dairy farmers
First machineGet quotes
Pellet machines on Jiji, price not shown. See our feed business guide.
High-end: factory scale
10Frozen or par-fried fries
Crop Potato
Buyers Hotels, restaurants, supermarkets
First machineGet quotes
Processing line: get quotes. One Kenyan processor grew from 300 kg to over 4 tonnes a day (PotatoPro).
11Cassava starch
Crop Cassava
Buyers Paper, textile, adhesive and food firms
First machineGet quotes
No reliable Kenyan price found. Get quotes.
12Sweet potato puree for bakers
Crop Orange-fleshed sweet potato
Buyers Bakeries, supermarkets
First machineGet quotes
No Kenyan price found. One factory ran 200 kg of roots an hour (CGIAR RTB, 2017).
Any idea: finish and brand
13Sealed, labelled pouches
Crop Any product above
Buyers Shops and supermarkets
First machineListed price
Heat sealer KSh 3,500 (Formulators Hub).
Prices are listed asking prices checked on 9 and 10 November 2026. We found no reliable Kenyan price for fry lines, starch plants or puree lines. Confirm delivery, accessories and warranty before you pay.
Cassava flour can replace 10 to 35% of the flour in bakery products (IITA). Ask a baker which share they would accept before you set your price.
What an Acre of Roots Earns, Raw and Processed
Run two simple tests. They show how much you harvest and what a raw sale is worth. Replace the averages with your own yields and prices.
Two acres of potatoes and one acre of cassava
| Crop | Harvest at national averages | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Two acres of potatoes | 8.1 tonnes at the national average of 10 t/ha | 1.5 to 1.9 tonnes lost by weight at 19 to 23% |
| One acre of cassava, raw | 6.2 tonnes at the 2022 national average of 15.4 t/ha | KSh 62,163 gross sales at KSh 10 a kilo in a glut |
| One acre of cassava, as flour | About 1.1 tonnes at 5.5 kg of roots a kilo | Flour must sell above KSh 55 a kilo to match the raw sale, before costs |
Yields come from the sources cited above. The KSh 10 price is the glut price reported by The Star. Gross sales are not profit.
The potato farmer loses up to 1.9 tonnes before selling a kilo. A cheap store, graded sacks and a firm buyer protect that tonnage.
The cassava farmer faces a harder test. Drying, milling and packing add costs on top of KSh 55 a kilo. The Star reports processed cassava at KSh 40 to 90 a kilo (July 2026). Confirm your flour price with buyers and a 100 kg trial.
Our agro-processing guide models a drying unit in full, with permits, payback and a break-even volume.
Test your root crop product
Send us your crop, acreage and buyer. We will build your break-even and cash plan.
Contact AgcentureWho Buys Processed Roots in Kenya?
Hotels, restaurants and kiosks buy chips and fries. One processor estimates that in-house fries from bought-in potatoes make up at least 40% of the market. Frozen fries take about 30%. Chilled and fresh-cut products take the rest (PotatoPro). These are her estimates, not official statistics.
Bakeries and supermarkets buy flour and puree. One Kenyan factory bought about 20 tonnes of orange-fleshed sweet potato a month. It paid almost double local market prices (CGIAR RTB, 2017). Its puree fed a supermarket bakery making over 3,000 loaves a day.
Millers and feed makers buy dried cassava chips. Paper, textile and food firms buy starch. Fresh potato exports reached almost 250,000 tonnes in 2025, up 97.6%. Uganda took nearly all of it. Processed exports were only 340 tonnes (World Potato Markets).
Sell on reliability. Buyers pay for the same size, colour and delivery day every week. Our food business guide shows what packed-food buyers check, and our agro export guide covers cross-border sales.
How to Start Root Crop Processing in 5 Steps
- 1Pick one crop and one product. Match your soil, your yield and a gap in the demand table.
- 2Name your buyer. Get five buyers to tell you the size, price and delivery day they want.
- 3Run a 100 kg trial. Weigh roots in, product out and waste. That gives your own kilos-per-kilo ratio.
- 4Buy the smallest machine. Get two quotes. Ask about warranty and spare parts.
- 5Clear permits and fund the unit. Fees, funding and payback sit in our agro-processing guide. Read contract farming to lock in supply.
Write the numbers into a farm business plan before you borrow. See our guide to agriculture finance in Kenya for funding routes. Agcenture gives advice and does not lend.
Roots spoil in days. Dry flour keeps for months.
Questions Readers Ask About Root Crop Processing
Which root crop is best for processing in Kenya?
It depends on your buyer. Cassava has the widest supply gap. Potato has the biggest market. Orange-fleshed sweet potato suits bakeries.
How many kilos of cassava make a kilo of flour?
About 5.5 kg of fresh roots make 1 kg of high quality flour, says IITA. Weigh your own trial batch.
How fast must you process cassava?
Within a day or two of harvest for good flour. The FAO guide says within 24 hours.
Is cassava safe to process at home?
Use low-cyanide varieties. Peel, soak and dry the roots properly. Confirm your method with KEBS before you sell.
What can you make from sweet potato?
Flour, puree, dried chips and crisps. Puree can replace 20 to 45% of wheat flour in baked goods.
Are yams and arrowroot worth processing?
Possibly. We found no reliable national data. Test chips or flour with five buyers before you invest.
Ready to process your roots?
Tell us your crop, acreage and buyer. A farm adviser replies within one working day.
Written by Agcenture
We help farmers and agribusinesses across Kenya plan farms, grow profitably and reach markets. Our guides use public sources and field experience.
