With widespread knowledge of agribusiness, farmers in ng’arua are quickly adopting and planting high value and drought tolerant crops. For many years, Peter Muturi Luka, have been planting maize in a three-quarter-acre farm, the maize yield were far from enough for his family needs.
The highest he could expect was five to eight thousand shillings in a year; to make matters worse he lives with the risk of watching his crops wither due to frequent long dry spells common in laikipia. Muturi had a rare enthusiasm for tree nurseries; he grew all sorts of trees and fruit seedling mainly for sale as an income generation activity. The proceeds were however low and insufficient to cater for the family needs.
The turn around is attributed to the advise from his neighbor Mr. Charles Maina, who used to buy passion fruits seedlings from Muturi. One day he advised him to try planting passion fruits and wait for the results. It was not until two years latter that Muturi decided to heed the advice of his neighbor. He started planting passion fruit seedling in the year 2008, though on trial and error basis, the returns from the few crops was marvelous, he became energized and motivated to drop maize farming and get to full time passion fruits farming.
One evening I visited his farm at Dim-com village in Sipili, the looks of his farm is heart-rending, very beautiful and promising. ‘‘Sing me another song but I will not go back to planting maize’’ said muturi. We went around the farm and saw the dark-green healthy passion fruits supported by poles and a string. Muturi is now a happy and satisfied farmer, his newfound venture is paying off and he has great plans for the future. Looking to the neighborhoods, other farmers still growing maize are counting losses; some have had their crops wither.
Farm Records
The records from the sales, planting and other farm activities are strictly kept, every pit of daily sales are properly outlined. He produced a book where he took us through a chronology of his records from the first day to date. Starting from early October 2009, his records showed he netted over one hundred thousand Kenya shillings from the sale of passion fruits alone! ‘‘That amount was just a pipe dream, had I stuck with the maize farming as a tradition’’ said muturi.
According to Mr. Muturi, passion fruits need special attention, to monitor the pests and diseases. He has known the pesticides to use and other best practices like maintaining the farm clear from weeds, at two to three feets tall, passion crops are supported with a wire to avoid falling and coming in contact with pests and disease causing organisms in the soil. Elephants are sometimes a problem but nowadays, the animals are becoming rare, farmers have discovered the use of some flashlight to scare the animals away.
Marketing.
Trades come to the farm gate, to purchase the produce, at first it was sold at Ksh 65 per kilogram then the prices dropped to Ksh 40. During this season he can earn up to 2,000 Ksh per week, something that is not possible with other crops, traders transport the fruits to far markets in major towns. Muturi has started engaging in a campaign to mobilize his fellow farmers to start growing passion fruits so that they can market together in bulk. From the proceeds of the fruits, he has bought an acres of land which he intends to plant more fruits.
The focused farmer is now targeting half a million from the sale of fruits when the one acre piece is fully-grown and mature. He intends to buy a pick-up vehicle to enable him transport his produce to reach far markets. His hopes were even lifted higher when he learned of ‘‘Sokopepe’’ a technique of marketing through the Internet where farmers advertise and bid for goods. The services are available at the ng’arua maarifa centers.
Muturi has a message for the youths who are quick to abandon the farm and go to towns in search for ‘‘clean’’ white-collar jobs. They should instead concentrate in the farms and plant what he calls the ‘‘dry lands cash crops’’
