A blend of animals and crops earned me award

Gilbert Kipchirchir posses next to a passion fruit plant in his farm in Ainabkoi, with the maize plantation in the background. PHOTO | STANLEY KIMUGE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The farmer ventured into agribusiness in late 2008 by growing maize on his father’s 0.6 acres and investing Sh40,000 he had saved.
  • He started with 400 purple passion fruit vines in 2009, which he bought at Sh10 each from Kabuchoi, Nandi County.
  • Crop rotation helps him achieve two things, one is control soil diseases and second is it improves his earnings as the farm does not stay vacant.
  • For anyone wishing to venture into passion fruit cultivation, he advises that one should watch out for viral and fungal diseases.

Gilbert Kipchirchir smiles from ear-to-ear as he walks on his maize farm, checking the crops that will be ready for harvest in a few weeks’ time.

Some have been attacked by a disease that is turning them black, but this does not dampen the 31-year-old’s spirit.

Kipchirchir, who started farming when he was 22, is basking in glory after emerging tops in the young farmers’ category in the National Farmers Awards Scheme, run by Elgon Kenya and the Ministry of Agriculture, among other partners, during the Nairobi show two weeks ago.

His winning spirit and dedication catapulted him to the top of the charts. Kipchirchir practices mixed farming on 10 acres, half which he has leased and the rest is his, growing maize, beans, passion fruits, cabbages, wheat, potatoes and he keeps dairy cows.

The farm is located some 5km from the Eldoret-Kaptagat Road in Ainabkoi Constituency.

“I keep two Ayrshire cows, which are lactating and produce at least 20 litres daily. I grow wheat on two acres, maize on five, passion fruits on 1.5 acres and wheat on a similar portion. The other crops, beans, potatoes and cabbages I rotate with the cereals and fruits,” says Kipchirchir.

“Whenever I harvest maize, I plant cabbages and potatoes because the demand for these crops goes up especially during dry seasons,” adds the farmer, who sources water from the nearby Chepkoilel river.

The farmer ventured into agribusiness in late 2008 by growing maize on his father’s 0.6 acres and investing Sh40,000 he had saved.

“I harvested 30 bags which I sold at Sh2,300 to traders. From the proceeds, I turned my sight to passion fruits because this was a new crop being introduced in the region and there was market.”

STARTING OUT

He started with 400 purple passion fruit vines in 2009, which he bought at Sh10 each from Kabuchoi, Nandi County. He later increased the number of plants to 1,200.

“The market for the crop is wide because I sell to traders from Eldoret, Nairobi, Uganda and even international markets,” explains Kipchirchir, a diploma student of electrical engineering.

In 2013 to 2014, he secured a contract with Woni exporters after meeting the requirements of the European market to export 15,000 tonnes of passion fruits that season earning close to Sh800,000.

“Exporters want bigger fruits while the small ones we sell in the local market,” says the farmer, who currently has 1,600 vines of the grafted purple passion fruits.

To grow the fruits, one can buy seeds or (grafted) vines then plant in plastic bags and after a month, transplant in a field with soils mixed with manure.

Normally they require plenty of water especially during the early stages.

One needs to trim the first generation of laterals to double production.

“Normally, each plant produces between 30-35 fruits per tree in a week. It has peak season, which is the October to December when I harvest up to 2,500kg.”

“The crop begins to fruit in four months and take another four to mature for harvesting to begin. But after one-and-half years, one should uproot the plants and rotate the crop with another,” he observes, noting he rotates the crop with maize, wheat or Boma Rhodes.

CROP ROTATION

Crop rotation helps him achieve two things, one is control soil diseases and second is it improves his earnings as the farm does not stay vacant.

“To grow this crop profitability, you must have training. The county government has helped me to improve on my agri-business. I attended training in Ruiru last year, which helped me understand on the management of the crops.”

Kipchirchir, who won because of the diversity on the farm, up-to-date records and good farming practices like crop rotation, harvests on average 1,500kg of passion fruits every week, selling from Sh70-Sh100 each.

For anyone wishing to venture into passion fruit cultivation, he advises that one should watch out for viral and fungal diseases.

Last year, he planted an acre of potatoes which earned him 240 bags of the crop, which he sold at Sh3,700 that May when there was shortage. Besides, he also planted wheat recently as he sought to diversify.

“For the cows, I participated in a radio show where I won an Ayrshire animal after answering questions and then bought another from a farmer in Lessos at cost of Sh97,000 to make them two,” says Kipchirchir, noting he has been able to build 12 rental houses and acquired two pieces of land from his agribusiness. 

Lilian Samoei, an agronomist at Egerton University, says passion fruit farmers need to watch out for viral diseases like Fusarium wilt or mosaic that causes woodiness or makes the plant’s stalks to develop cracks leading to wilting.

She adds that one needs to practise continuous crop rotation after two or three years.

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Growing the fruits

  • You can use either vines or seeds.
  • For seeds, soak the seeds for a week to break dormancy, at same time prepare tubes (mixture of dampen soils and cow dung manure). 
  • Then put them in the tubes and after which 21 days they sprout to vines.
  • Leave them for one month and then transplant to the field.