On a 10-acre farm in Kendege village, Migori, two women are busy under the blazing sun packing tomatoes in a bucket ready for customers.
A bucket full of tomatoes fetches Sh500.
Susan Boke and Sarah Ghati, tomato sellers in Kehancha and Migori markets, say they have greatly cut down on travel costs since they can now seek vegetables from closer home.
Peter Chacha Mwita is the farmer who took the initiative to cultivate the vegetables closer home. He said he undertook the venture after quitting his job as a farmhand at the vast Delamere Farm.
“I had Sh200,000 savings and decided to take up horticulture farming back home after trying several times in smaller parcels of land. That is before I approached the local leadership led by Kuria East MP Marwa Kitayama to have access to this land,” Mwita said.
Mwita grows eight different varieties of crops, namely cucumber, garlic, onions, cabbages, collards, watermelons, sunflower and beetroot.
“We partner with Kendege Technical Institute where the farm is used as a demonstration for students and youths. The youths who are used to seeking handouts from politicians found this venture to be worthwhile,” Mwita said.
He said in the region, horticulture farming has been shunned for maize, tobacco and beans farming despite a huge demand and supply gap which has seen traders seek vegetables all the way in Tanzania.
"The venture has revolutionised my life and I don’t intend to quit. On average, I cash between Sh7000 and Sh 10,000 from the farm just from vegetables. Prices however shoot during dry seasons,” says the farmer, who receives clients from as far as Nairobi.
He says that a 9okg bag of mature cucumber and courgette fetches Sh9,000 and at times he can harvest as much as 200 bags from his vast farm.
“Both cucumber and courgette take three months to mature and once ready, they are harvested twice weekly. I often sell them off to Nairobi-bound traders who take them at a good price,” he says.
He also supplies kales and cabbages to neighbouring schools, a move he says has seen him employ six youths to help maintain his vast farm, apart from traders who come for produce.
In 2019, Mwita participated at the Nairobi International Trade Fair where he emerged second-best overall putting Migori county in the limelight.
Boke and Ghati concur.
The traders say the trip to Tanzania for tomatoes that used to cost them at least Sh600, is now recouped on more sales.
“In Tanzania, at the Isebania border, the traders and farmers used to control the prices, making prices erratic, but with this farm, we have a constant supply,” Ghati said.
Mzee Matiko Mosaka, a Kuria elder, said as a community they approached local leaders to allow the use of the 10 acres adjacent to Kendege Technical and Vocational Institute and Kehancha Prisons for use.
“Before, this land was at the centre of conflict between Bukira and Nyabasi clans of Kuria, but now we have changed it into an oasis of business,” Mosaka said.
(edited Amol Awuor)
