More Uasin Gishu farmers diversify crops for profit

Many Uasin Gishu farmers are diversifying from maize and wheat and are now also growing coffee, avocados, macadamia, passion fruit and tree tomatoes.

They are practicing pluri-culture, meaning getting income from as many diverse high-value crops as possible.

The Uasin Gishu government has been educating farmers on the need to diversify and spread risk.   

Governor Jackson Mandago has been crusading for diversification and presented seedlings for coffee, macadamia and avocado at functions such as the annual Agricultural Show.        

Limo Farm is a large-scale producer in Plateau, Uasin Gishu, and has been producing maize for years.

Now they are planting coffee on 30 acres and avocado, macadamia and tree tomatoes on 160 acres.  

Farm manager Patrick Mutai said for many years, maize prices have fluctuated because of produce flooding the market and lowering maize prices.

Due to changes in weather patterns, many farmers will harvest only 40 per cent of their produce and they are the lucky ones, Mutai said.

He said Limo Farm has lost almost 10 acres of beans due to short rains so they have turned to coffee, macadamia avocado to reduce economic, ecological and production risks.       

Mutai said they were planting coffee extensively and received support from the county with the high-value crop.   

“We have done our research and consulted companies on how to plant, maintain and harvest the coffee and we have a guaranteed market both locally and internationally," he said.       

Reuben Seroney, county director of agriculture, said they decided to venture into high-value crops because maize and wheat were not yielding expected returns. Continued farming of the grains has caused crop acidity, he said.  

“We have educated our farmers on all this and we have done registration to help them get seedlings and follow up with training and technical advice," he said.

The county has established a nursery in Chebororwa that aims to produce two million seedlings by next year as demand is increasing sharply.   

For now, the county is mostly distributing seedlings.

So far this year, it has distributed 8,000 macadamia, 25,000 banana and 75,000 avocado seedlings. The county plans to distribute 400,000 coffee seedlings.

"We hope by next year we will be able to export to the NOREB region,” Seroney said.          

The increase in diversification demonstrates that the search for an alternative economy is gaining momentum in Uasin Gishu as farmers seek new cash crops.        

(Edited by V. Graham)