The Kiwi Fruit Farming: A Goldmine

Kiwi is a temperate fruit and it can do well in the temperate regions of Kenya like Central, Western highlands, Central Rift Valley and others.

There are very few markets where demand exceeds supply. One such market is for Kiwi fruits which despite being a relatively new idea in Kenya, has taken the market by storm. There are very few farmers who have gotten wind of its valued benefits and you can take advantage of this loophole to make a timely investment. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to go about it.

The Basics of Kiwi Fruit Farming in Kenya

Growing Requirements

Soil 

The soil must be well drained. Kiwi tree vines planted where water sits on the surface following rains are likely to develop crown rot. The soil pH should be between 5.0 and 6.5.

Kiwi tree is especially touchy about less than perfect site and soil conditions in its youth. For this reason, some growers coddle their plants in containers for one, even two, years. Kiwi tree growth can be phenomenal in carefully watered and fertilized containers.

In Kenya Kiwi should be planted during the rainy season to take advantage of long-rains but does well too under irrigation. Note that Kiwi Vines are very vulnerable to strong wings and you may need to invest a bit more to protect them by building a temporary fence or planting some trees around the farm.

Fertilizer

Also compost manure and some little amounts of fertilizer, that is D.A.P and C.A.N to provide the crop with adequate nutrients are recommended.

Pests and Diseases

Kiwi plants are susceptible to PSA, crown rot, collar rot and root rot.

Symptoms

  • Reduced shoot growth. Leaves are small and chlorotic.
  • Vines may collapse suddenly or show a gradual decline in productivity over several seasons.
  • Red-brown discoloration of roots and root crowns which is visible when root is cut in two.

Management

Remove and destroy all infested leaves, twigs and fruits to prevent further spread of pests. Avoid water logging and keep the soil aerated.

One may also need bio-chemicals that are usually used on fruits like oranges and grapes.

Pests

Brown Leaf Roller, Green Leaf Roller, Greedy scale, Passion Vine Hopper and Thrips are some of the most common insect pests that attack kiwifruits.

Management

Avoid chemicals, as these may kill beneficial insects, like tachinid flies and parasitic wasps, which prey on leaf rollers. Bacillus thuringiensis is a safe, non-toxic treatment. Pheromone traps are also an effective means of control.

Kiwi Fruit Seedlings

Pollination

The burden of pollination rests mostly with honeybees, though wind and other beneficial insects also play a role. With few exceptions, a separate, non fruiting male plant is needed to fertilize and induce fruiting of female plants. The male should be no further than 35 feet from females. Do not be surprised if it appears that female flowers have stamens, the male flower parts. The stamens are there, but the pollen they shed is sterile. Similarly, male flowers have small, nonfunctional ovaries.

One male plant can fertilize the flowers of 8 or so females; and male and female plants need not be the same species of kiwi tree to cross-pollinate. Bloom times of male and female flowers must coincide, though.

Hand pollination is practical if you grow only a few kiwi trees. Merely pluck off a male blossom and lightly rub it on a half-dozen female flowers. Then go pluck another male, repeat the rubbing, and so forth.

Trellising

Kiwi trees are rampant plants and their trunks never become sturdy enough to hold the plants up off the ground of their own accord. Under cultivation plants must be trained to some sort of support that is both sturdy and allows vines adequate room to ramble.

A trellis used by commercial kiwi tree growers consists of wires stretched between 6-foot-high T-bar supports spaced 15 to 20 feet apart. At some sacrifice to fruit production, but with perhaps a gain in beauty, kiwi tree vines can be coaxed up a variety of other structures such as a gazebo, a pergola, or even along a split rail fence.

Kiwi Fruit Plant

Training and Pruning

The goals in training and pruning are to make a potentially tangled mass of rampant shoots manageable and easy to harvest, and to keep a vine fruitful by allowing adequate light to fall within the plant canopy. Pruning also stimulates an annual flush of new wood, important because flowers and fruits are borne toward the bases of current seasons’ shoots that grow from canes that grew the previous year only.

Not all the new shoots that grow from the previous year’s canes will fruit. Some canes may have been too shaded the year before, or the vine may be too young. Those canes that are fruitful will produce fruiting shoots at their basal half-dozen or so buds; the buds further out are capable of producing shoots that will fruit the next year.

An established kiwi tree vine consists of a trunk, permanent cordons, and fruiting arms or canes. Training and pruning are done by tying shoots to supports and pruning the plants while they are growing and they are dormant.

Girdling

Girdling is a technique that induces fruiting and hastens maturity and bud-break  by disrupting the flow of nutrients and hormones in the stems. In late summer, make two parallel cuts, one sixteenth of an inch apart, on the trunk, and remove the strip of bark from between the cuts. Do not girdle any vine that is in a weakened condition, or cut too deeply, remove just the outer bark.

Kiwi Fruits 

Harvesting

A mature kiwifruit vine can produce more than 90 kilograms of fruit. The ready kiwi fruits are harvested by snapping them off their stalks when the skins turn brown and samples of cut fruit show black seeds. The fruit will be hard, but will soften and sweeten in a week at room temperature. In a cool room, such a fruit will keep for two months. If the fruit is refrigerated to near freezing, and the humidity maintained at 95 percent with a plastic bag having just a few small holes, the fruit will store for 9 months. Let firm and ripe fruit soften before eating. This can be hastened by putting the fruit in a bag with an apple.

Hardy and super-hardy kiwifruits drop or come off easily from the vines when they are ripe. They are picked firm and ripe with their stems attached, and the small fruited kiwifruits store as well as the large kiwifruit.

The average kiwi vine takes 2 to 3 years to mature and start producing fruits. The first few harvests may however not be as productive but this tends to improve throughout the plants maturity life.

Kiwi Fruit Remains an Undiscovered Goldmine in Kenya

Market Outlook

There are very few markets where demand exceeds supply. One such market is for Kiwi fruits which despite being a relatively new idea in Kenya, has taken the market by storm. And you just need to have a taste of this fruit to understand why so many people love it.

There are very few farmers who have gotten wind of its valued benefits so far. Actually, production of Kiwi fruits in Kenya is yet to kick off on a commercial scale. Now that’s where the mammoth opportunity is. You can take advantage of this low-supply-high-demand situation in Kenya and make your profits.

Kiwi Fruit Harvest

Investing in Kiwi Fruit

Let’s start with good news; Kiwi seedlings are now available in Kenya for an affordable price of Ksh.300. You can contact Richfarm Kenya 0724698357/ 0723213602 to have clean certified seedling.

The crop management is similar to passion fruit management practices. That means you will also need trellis and enough manure and water to bring up a healthy profitable crop. See the complete guide below; it contains the cost estimates for an acre.

The Money Math

An acre of kiwi fruits carries about 650 vines. In the third year, each vine should give you about 20 fruits on the lower side. That gives you about 13,000 fruits in a season. Check out the prices in supermarkets today and you will find a retail price of between Ksh.90 and Ksh.100 per fruit. Supposing you sell the fruit at a wholesale price of Ksh.70 per fruit, that acre will give you a cool Ksh.910,000. Now keep in mind that the production increases with time.

We have compiled this comprehensive Kiwi fruit farming guide for Kenya with step-by-step information from planting through to harvesting and marketing in our resource page where you can download a copy.

NB: The ratio of male to female kiwi plants is 1:5, therefore we recommend having 5 seedlings at once to minimize the chance of you taking females only yet a male is needed for fertilization. I covered this on female and male kiwi fruits above under pollination.

  • Cost per seedling ksh.300
  • Seedlings per acre - 340 vines
  • Spacing – 2m between lines, 6m from plant to plant
  • Fruit market price – Ksh. 90-100 retail, Ksh. 70 on wholesale
  • Yield – 20-30 fruits per vine in a season
  • Common pests - Brown Leaf Roller, Green Leaf Roller, Greedy scale, Passion Vine Hopper and Thrips
  • Common diseases - PSA, crown rot, collar rot and root rot
  • Lifespan – Deciduous  

Frequently Asked Questions

  •  Is Kiwi fruit profitable in Kenya?
  • How long does it take for a kiwi plant to start producing fruits?
  • What is the best place to grow kiwi fruits n Kenya?
  • How is the Kiwi fruit market locally and for export?
  • What is the cost of kiwi fruit farming in Kenya?

 

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