Caleb Karuga’s Story Depicts The True Journey To Agribusiness Success

“I would pray with my wife every morning: ‘God, today I want to be fired.’”

If he quit his job Karuga would have had to forfeit KSh. 1.3m (US$14,800) in benefits, so he held on until when his employer retrenched him alongside dozens of his colleagues. Looking back, Karuga says this was a blessing in disguise.

The founder and managing director of Wendy Farms tells How we made it in Africa that as a child he hated farming. Like most kids in his rural village, he was used as free labour in the family’s agricultural ventures.

“I grew up being forced to go to the coffee plantation. I hated having to water the cabbages after school. I would see my uncles playing tricks on their father and faking illnesses so they wouldn’t work at the farm. As a young boy I viewed farming as a form of punishment. I don’t blame any young person who hates farming because I did too.”

It was while on assignment nearly four years ago that Karuga interviewed a professional mole catcher and felt motivated to go into agribusiness. Farmers would hire the mole catcher to trap moles, which destroy crops, at a fee. Karuga notes that by his calculation the mole catcher probably took home at least KSh. 90,000 ($1,000) per month, some thousands more than he was making as a TV reporter.

Karuga leased a one acre piece of land in central Kenya and started Wendy Farms. Today he runs three farms where he keeps thousands of indigenous chicken, quails, guinea fowls and dairy goats and grows butternut, strawberry, sweet potatoes and sunflowers.

Every Saturday, groups of 30-40 people visit Wendy Farms for training on poultry farming. Karuga charges KSh. 1,000 ($11) per person for one session.

Many mistakes

Karuga says he started offering training sessions to help other entrepreneurs avoid making the mistakes he made. He notes that while his success story is inspiring for other youth, few know about the challenges he encountered along the way.

When Karuga first ventured into farming he acquired 200 pigs because pigs were the ‘it’ thing at the time. With no proper research, the venture failed.

He made another attempt, buying two hens and one cock.

“When the two hens started laying eggs I decided to buy more hens from neighbouring farms. That was my biggest mistake because some of the hens were not vaccinated. In a span of about a month and a half I had lost about 200 hens. I learned that you should never buy birds that you are not sure whether or not they have been vaccinated.”

Not one to give up easily, Karuga purchased 500 day-old chicks from the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, but once again made loses as his employees sold the chickens in his absence.

“Theft by employees was the major challenge we have faced. I bought the chicks at KSh. 100 ($1.14) each and after a month of feeding them my employees were selling them off for KSh. 50 ($0.57) each. When they matured I would be told the hens had ‘died’ of diseases.”

Karuga soldiered on and bought another 1,500 chicks, but because he used cheaper feed, egg production was poor. Eventually Karuga realised he would make three times more selling day-old chicks than what he was making selling eggs.

“I learned that in indigenous chicken farming the money is in day-old chicks, not eggs. It was like a light bulb moment for me. That is when I knew for sure I did not want to be employed anymore. I realised I had been sitting on a gold mine. I knew I needed to get fired and get it right with the business.”

Farming not for everyone

Despite his initial losses, Karuga says he has learnt a lot along the way.

“I believe in going through the learning curve. When a venture fails I don’t take it personally. It is the business that has failed, not me. I might have made a mistake but I choose to keep on the ball. I don’t make permanent decisions based on temporary situations.”

While it is encouraging to see more young people going into agribusiness, Karuga says the industry should not be romanticised.

“What we are seeing is people going into farming because they read a story in a newspaper. They don’t do thorough research and they have no passion for farming, but because it seems sexy they decide to take a loan and bury the money. Don’t make farming sexy because it is not.”

He warns that anyone looking to get into agribusiness needs to first have a passion for it.

“If your only motivation is to make money then you are getting into the wrong business.”

Passion Fruit Farming in Kenya: Success Story of Former Kibaki’s Security Advisor

After working for the National Intelligence Service and as former President Mwai Kibaki’s security advisor, Esau Kioni retired to start passion fruit farming in Othaya, Nyeri. He was in time to catch good prices as the demand for the fruit in Kenya was increasing and now he says the venture is earning him good money.

In the more than one and half acre piece of land, Mr Kioni has planted the ‘purple’ passion fruit that also does well in cold regions.

With his shamba located at the edge of the Aberdare forest, his plantation is doing well and every week, he is able to harvest more than half a tonne of the produce.

“When I made sure that my boss, Mr Kibaki was in safe hands, I decided to retire and venture into farming. However, I had not decided on what type of crop I was going to grow,” says Mr Kioni.

He wanted a crop that would do better than the usual crops that other farmers were growing — maize, coffee and tea.

The 71-year-old father of three says he first tried his hand at tissue culture bananas, which he bought from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

To diversify he went out searching for another crop to grow and a friend from the same university told him to try the purple passion fruit, which he now says has turned to be a success.

“I only started with a few crops but after I realised they were doing well and the fruits were in high demand, I decided to plant more,” Mr Kioni says.

Mr Kioni says he is unable to satisfy his market in Nairobi, adding that he sells a kilogramme at Sh100.

He however says there are times he hikes his price to Sh180 per kg depending on the availability of the fruit in the market.

To discourage diseases, Mr Kioni practices crop rotation by planting bananas or cabbages before again planting his passion fruits.

The fruit is prone to diseases and this has discouraged many farmers from planting it in large scale.

But Mr Kioni says despite the risk, he had to try his luck.

To avoid transferring diseases from one plant to another, he makes sure to dip his secateurs in Jik detergent to sterilise them while pruning.

Having realised the nutritional and market potential in the fruit, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (Kari) has developed three new passion fruit varieties, Kenya passion fruit number 4 (KPF 4), KPF 11 and KPF 12, after a 20-year research.

According to a report by The East African Fresh Produce Journal, experts say the new varieties could help lift the economic status of smallholder farmers and contribute to a rapid increase in passion fruit production.

The new varieties are not only drought tolerant but are more suited to the fresh market and processing.

Although these varieties are of similar physical characteristics with types grown in the coastal region, they are more superior in quality, according to Joseph Njuguna a fruit expert at Kari-Thika.

“The new varieties are sweet unlike those grown in the Coast region. They are also bigger in size, juicier and more tolerant to soil and foliar diseases,” he notes.

A multi-stakeholder project promoting commercialisation of passion fruit in Kenya is at the bulking stage, the phase in which Kari ascertains that there are enough certified seedlings for transfer to farmers. Kari has propagated 30,000 seedlings for distribution in Eastern, Central and parts of Rift Valley Provinces.

Soft drink companies, among them Coca-Cola, are encouraging farmers to plant more fruits by promising a ready market. Coca-Cola aims at starting to manufacture packed fresh fruit juices.

Mr Kioni is currently trying out a new type of avocado species that has a longer shelf life and doesn’t grow very tall.

Passion fruit farming guide for kenya

He has started with 200 seedlings of the Hass avocado from the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (Kari) and he says if all goes well, he will plant it in a similar acreage to that of his passion fruits.

“I love farming fruits since they have ready market throughout the year and apart from this advantage, they fetch good money,” says Mr Kioni.

We wrote this comprehensive passion fruit farming guide for Kenya and put it in PDF so you can even carry it in your phone and refer any time. You can now request for it from our Resources Page. 

Passion Fruit Farming in Kenya: The Costs and Expected Returns

Passion fruit, a climbing vine, is a versatile crop whose demand is growing in both export and domestic markets. It is the third most popular fruit in Kenya after mangoes and bananas respectively.

Passion fruit farming in Kenya

The fruit can be eaten fresh or consumed after extracting the pulp and making juice. Passion fruit juice is a delicacy and is in high demand in the local markets. The juice is used in a variety of products and the pulp may be added to different dishes. A wide range of cosmetic products and food flavours are derived from the fruit that is rich in Vitamins A and C and carotene.

Due to the huge and expanding market and the changing consumer preferences as Kenyans move from carbonated soft drinks to fresh juices, the popularity of passion fruit farming in Kenya is set to rise high. Furthermore, brands like Coca-cola, Afia juices and Del-Monte are already sourcing various fruits from farmers or are in the process of doing in a bid to tap fresh fruits processing segments.

Despite all the interest by fresh drink processors, the supply of passion fruits is very low. A visit to various market centres in Nairobi, Kiambu, Eldoret, Kisumu, Mombasa and other towns reveals that fewer traders sell the crop compared to bananas or mangoes. This indicates that very few farmers have taken the crop seriously as a source of revenue. This situation presents a huge income potential for farmers who will tap into passion fruit farming.

Economic potential

Passion fruit farming can easily be started with little capital yet the financial returns can be more than previously thought possible.

Daily Data from the ministry of agriculture website indicates that the average price of One kilo of passion fruits is 50 shillings in various markets centres of the country; however, farmers can still sell at a higher price, with some recording as high as sh.150 per kilo for choice fruits sold for export.

It is possible to earn high, if the farmer does direct marketing that involves approaching restaurants, supermarkets and hotels that in most occasions buy one kilo for 100 shillings.

Furthermore, the maturing and ripening of the fruits, does not happen at the same time; some take 3 days others 1 week others 2 weeks. This is advantageous, as it allows the farmer to harvest weekly and have time to market their produce.

It has also been proven that passions are perennial plants; once planted, their lifespan is long, often exceeding 3 years; all these depends on how the plant is managed and fertilized.

One plant if carefully tended can grow vigorously to a length of over 6 meters after the first 4-5 months of transplanting yielding up to 2kg of fruit every week during the high season. 

Passion fruit farming guide for Kenya

With a spacing of 2m by 3m, an acre would accommodate slightly more than 650 plants. Taking the lowest production of 1kg per week from each tree, an acre is able to give 650 kgs every week. We shall also take the lowest farm gate price possible which is Ksh60 for purple passion. That will earn you 39,000 per week for at least 6 months in a year. That will translate to Ksh 936,000 per year in Revenue. The cost of production per year is approximately ksh300,000: refer to the guide for breakdown. 

The cost of production and other relevant information is available in a comprehensive guide for passion fruit production in Kenya. You can now request for it from our Resources Page. 

Passion fruit farming in Kenya: Pick Money Weekly by Selling To An Export Company

The compound that hosts a public library building in Simoti location, Bomet County is normally a beehive of activity every Friday. Koech is one of the farmers in this region who have taken up passion fruit farming and sell through export companies. 

Well, it is not students who meet here but a group of passion fruit farmers. They congregate in the compound every Friday afternoon with their harvest for sale.

Majority use motorbikes to ferry up to three 90kg bags of their produce to the collection centre, others carry the fruits on their backs.

“The harvest varies from farm to farm and some of our members bring over 100kg every week while others as little as 5kg,” says Joseph Koech, Simoti location chief and the chair of Chepkikon Self-Help Group.

The area has experienced a boom in passion fruit farming that has seen farmers shift from maize and tea.

The members of this visionary self-help group came together in recently after being trained by TechnoServe, an NGO.

Initially, the group had 75 members but currently, only 50 are active, others having fallen off before their efforts could come to fruition. Their chairman notes that passion fruit farming calls for patience since a farmer has to wait for at least 6 months to the first harvest. During this time, the farmer must invest in crop care without tire. 

After the training, each member of the group bought 80 grafted passion fruit seedlings for planting at Sh60 per piece. This was enough to cover a tenth of an acre.

Koech planted 160 seedlings in his farm in Chongenwo village. The grafted seedlings are planted in 0.6 by 0.6m holes in a spacing of 2m between rows and 3m from plant to plant. When preparing the holes, the top soil is dug out and mixed with well-composted manure. The bottom soil is discarded since it contains low organic content. 

One then should erect strong posts along the rows at 6m intervals to support the plants. This should be done soon after transplanting even though production of fruits peaks at one year. The farmers sell their fruits to D-Fresh Limited for export.

At the collection centre, the fruits are sorted and graded then packed in 30kg crates for transportation to Nairobi where the maximum residue level is checked before being cleaned and packed in 2kg packets for Europe.

Is Passion Fruit Farming Profitable?

A tree should give at least a kilo of fruit every week but in ideal situations, the yield goes to over 2kg per tree, per week. Harvesting is mainly done every week but this can be affected by routine field practices like pruning and chemical application.

In his farm with 160 vines, Koech’s biggest harvest in a week has been 156kg and the lowest 50kg. During our visit, we witnessed Koech recording 108kg. The price at this time was Ksh70 hence he earned a cool Ksh7,560 that day. 

“Sometimes we are paid up to Sh80 per kilo, which is why a farmer who harvests even 5kg every week earns a good amount of money in a month,” he says.

Florence Kurgat of Kaptebengwet village, who also grows passion fruit, says the crop has helped her pay school for her children after tea prices dropped.

“I planted 140 seedlings in last year and I don’t regret the decision to venture into passion fruit farming. If it were not for passion fruits, I would have no source of income because the price of tea, which I also grow, has gone down.”

During our visit, she had just brought 110kg of the fruits which will fetch her more than Sh7,000.

The farmers are paid every Monday and this makes the venture quite beneficial unlike tea whose pay is monthly and annually for bonuses.

Ruth Koech has less than 30 plants in her farm and she gets between 10-25kg every week earning her enough money to supplement her family’s budget.

Passion Fruit Farming Challenges

However, all is not rosy for the passion fruit farmers because they have to contend with destructive pests and diseases that attack this precious fruit. The biggest challenge is the viral die back disease, which makes the branches wilt and die especially from the tip backwards. Once affected, the branch has to be cut off otherwise the entire plant will die.

James Saina, an agronomist at Kaimosi Agriculture Training Centre, says that to curb Die back, farmers should avoid planting their passion fruits in shaded areas and in case of attack, the disease can be treated using Ridomil.

Passion fruits are also attacked by the fungal Fusarium wilt and the viral Woodiness disease that Saina says though serious, can be controlled if a farmer observes proper handling of seedlings and keeps the field free from vectors.

“The seedlings should be grafted in a clean environment and the grafted section should be sterilised to avoid entry of the diseases. Disinfect pruning instruments too to avoid viral attacks.”

However, the best way to start your passion fruit farm is by buying already grafted seedlings from a certified nursery like Richfarm Kenya.

Saina advises farmers to spray the fruits immediately after harvesting, then ensure that no harvest is done until the stipulated 7-21 days are over, depending on the chemical used.

Passion fruit farming guide for kenya

A farmer should not sell fruits during this period, she should burry them. Margaret Mosbei of D-Fresh Ltd says produce for export should not be too small and should have an even, smooth and shiny skin. The fruit should also be packed fresh from the farm and should be at least 85 per cent purple.

“During sorting, the green and the overripe ones are rejected just as those that show signs of disease attacks.”

The fruits are tested for maximum residual level to ensure that traces of chemicals used in their production do not exceed the set standards.

If you would like to invest in passion fruit farming, you can get all the guidance and help from Richfarm Kenya. You can call them on 0724698357. This comprehensive guide for growing passion fruits in Kenya is also written by our experts and is available. You can now get it for free from our Resources Page. 

Passion Fruit Farmer Who Grew From ¼ Acre To Producing 6 Tons Earning Sh.420,000 Monthly

It is a warm Thursday afternoon when Seeds of Gold arrives at Grace Cheptoo’s farm at Ng’oina Road area in Bureti Constituency. We find the mother of two humming to some music while harvesting passion fruits. We visited the farm to find the root of her love for passion fruit farming, her story having travelled far and reached us.

Grace, 60, established the fruit farm on her 0.2 acre land on the advice of a friend in March 2010, investing Sh64,000 into the venture. She says that it was without doubt one of the best decisions she ever took as it has earned her good returns through export to Uganda, Guatemala and Belgium.

By 2011, on a good month, Grace was harvesting 480 kilos of passion fruit, making Sh33,600.

THE BEST PRACTICES FOR PASSION FRUIT FARMING

Grace says best practices in passion fruit farming can ensure an optimum yield of between 15 and 20 tonnes per hectare. These practices include trellising, weeding, irrigation, application of fertilisers and pruning. See the guide below for details.

Grace noted that passion fruits can be grown from seeds, grafting and tissue culture. The seed is germinated after removal of the pulp and drying and germination requires up to four weeks.

Production of seedlings in plastic bags is the most frequent method of producing seedlings. Up to three seeds are planted in each bag and then thinned to one after emergence.

Seedlings will require up to four months to reach a suitable transplanting growth stage. After about seven weeks of growth following transplanting, each plant should have up to four healthy lateral stems.

 ENOUGH PASSION FRUIT MARKET

“When I started this project, it was meant to give me something to do part time but it has becoming more profitable than any other farming activity I have done including tea and pineapple growing,” says Grace.

Although she can claim success today, it has not always been a walk in the park. She recalls that when she harvested her first crop in August 2011, she had to hawk it in person and sell the fruits at the local market as she did not have a stable market.

Things turned for the better in March 2012 when a business colleague informed her that there was a huge demand for passion fruits in Uganda and within no time, she was selling her fruit at Sh40 per kilo to an exporter who would transport the produce to Uganda.

As she went about her business, word about the success of her venture spread and several aspiring passion fruit farmers went to her farm for lessons.

As the numbers grew, she registered a company – Cool Breeze Horticulture – through which she has been enlisting the services of experts in the agricultural sector to train individuals willing to join the passion fruit growing and export business. So far, 375 farmers from Kericho and Bomet counties have been trained.

Last year, Grace and her group found a new buyer who has been exporting fruits to Guatemala and Belgium at Sh70 per kilo. The farmers deliver 6,000 kilos every month, making a combined monthly income of Sh420,000.

Passion fruit farming guide for Kenya

Grace is now convinced there is enough market for passion fruits. “Our current production cannot meet the demand for the fruit in the foreign market.” She also grows passion fruit seedlings which she sells to farmers at Sh30 each.

While the success of passion fruit farming is sweet, it is difficult to attain it without proper knowledge of the best farming practices. To help you in that, we have compiled this full guide for passion fruit farming in Kenya. You can now request for it from our Resources Page. 

In Agribusiness, If You Know This You Make Millions, If You Don’t You Lose Millions

The millionaire farmers in Kenya are by no means rocket scientists; they simply know and do some things that the average farmer doesn't or considers to be irrelevant. There are many articles in which I have some of these things individually. Allow me to quickly highlight all of them here. I just hope I will be able to draw your keen attention to these do or die things in agribusiness.

I deliberately start with something few people getting into agribusiness ever do: drawing up a business plan. Sit down and draw a business plan! Should I say that again? After you have identified your focus entity (which crop or animal you intend to keep or cultivate) you must sit down and draft the costs, budget, projected income and approximate timings.

You will also need a farm layout so you know what goes (or will go) where in long and/or short term. This is can be influenced by a soil test of your land. It's like going to the bank to obtain your bank statement. If you are going to grow anything, you want to know the soil content; its nutrients and pH. Then you will know what crops the soil will support in its current state or what you need to add to suit your interested crop. The old fashion way of using cow/chicken manure blindly is not smart. Richfarm Kenya will help you a great deal with immediate and continuous consultations. They may run or help you do the soil testing. 

Patience, passion and consistency are virtues well known and practiced by millionaire farmers not only in Kenya but the world over. Cultivate them in you before you cultivate anything in your farm. Don't plant or raise livestock just because someone said that it's profitable or you saw them make money from such ventures. From experience, success comes from within those who are patient enough to follow a given path with undying consistency. Consider the other factors as well such as your own capabilities. Profits may be illusionary and are subjective.

Third, consider these factors in production: Capital, Land, Labour and Entrepreneurship.

Labour and Entrepreneurship: I don't know your profession so I will be general. Are you going to hire labour or do you have time to do it yourself? This will determine the success of your chosen enterprise. You may have a trustworthy worker who knows more about farming; but you still need to supervise and manage your business. You could also visit farms practicing the same and learn from them.

Capital: this is not just the cash in the bank but also the farm structures, equipment, tools and materials to use in your operation as well as access to water, electricity and other infrastructure necessary for your farm operations. Surprisingly, most farmers do not account for the cost of these things, then they make profits and keep wonderings “but where did my money go?!?”

Land: Here you have a great advantage since in Kenya land is not scarce as such. If you do not have your own and cannot buy, never be discouraged; lease it. There are so many people who are willing to lease land but you may have to involve a friend who is a local in your place of interest. Never seek to start big; 1 acre is okay and you could also use the profits from it as capital to expand the business with time. This one is enough to get you a footing and then expand with time.

Lastly, whatever you do, seek to learn as much as you can about it. The internet is a good source of information but be conscious while using it since some information may have been posted a long time ago and could be outdated. Follow blogs that are constantly updated, sign up for tutorial programs, attend farming exhibitions and be in constant touch with practicing farmers.

There is a wealth of information in form of farming guides that are in pdf on our Resources Page. 

This Is What Every Farmer’s Dream Is Made Of

Driving through a dusty road that occasionally branched off to expensive mansions, one could hardly believe that a green haven lay right ahead. For the area, being in the outskirts of Thika town and just a few meters from the Thika super highway, the most obvious investment that would cross any entrepreneur’s mind is definitely real estate.

However, this is where RealIPM, probably the largest farm in the region practicing pure organic farming is established. The farm occupies quite a sizable piece of land but it has all been put under intensive agriculture.

About 230 workers employed at the farm are pacing up and down in various sections of the farm, every one of them in a green apron and their tools of work. A lot is taking place here and I wish I could satisfactorily summarize everything in one article but that would be very selfish of me. So over the next few days, I will tell you about each of the extraordinary farming methods I saw at the farm.

The gunny bags farming method

As soon as I entered the gate, I couldn’t help but walk straight to a section of the farm on which were 20 large gunny bags with spinach and sukuma wiki growing on them. The plants growing on the sides of the bags and on top were so healthy and green that they formed a forest of vegetables.

But what really attracted me the most is the little space on which the forest of vegetables was growing on. On each of the bags, 100 plants were planted on the sides and a few more on the top. The 20 bags occupied a space of about 15 by 3 meters. Under the traditional farming method, this space would have been enough for at most 250 plants at a spacing of 30 by 60 cm. Now that same space was being used to grow over 2000 healthy plants!

Thinking along the lines of making money from agribusiness, I realized what an amazing solution this is to the people who have small plots of land and spaces in their backyards. There’s no reason why space should now limit you from making money from farming.

With this technology, you only need an eighth of an acre to produce more than what a farmer with an acre under traditional farming does.

And what’s more, you cut costs by a great margin. First, the cost of installing the drip irrigation system is drastically reduced; from that which is enough for an acre to that that is enough for just an eighth.

This system of farming also ensures that weeds are eradicated hence the cost of weeding is eliminated. The soil in the vertical bags is also prepared well before planting and mixed with animal manure. This produces very strong plants that are tolerant to diseases.

For all I know, this is no doubt the best farming system. Imagine being able to earn as much as a farmer with a whole acre from just an eighth!

Let’s make money: ukulima sasa.