Simon rebels politics for lucrative bud agribusiness venture

BY WAIKWA MAINA

The ten-kilometer drive diverting to the left from Ol Kalou Engineer town at Tulaga market lands us at Gwa Karuka Village, Gathaara ward, in Kinangop Constituency, Nyandarua.

About 500 meters from the poorly maintained marram road, we spot some yellowish-coloured flowers deep inside the bushes, but walking to the part of the farm takes us about 30 minutes of meandering the tough Aberdare Forest ridges through a footpath that is occasionally swallowed by the grass.

Before arriving at this farm, particularly the yellow beautified part of the farm we passed several other plots measuring between a quarter acre and half acre land, all planted with different types of flowers mostly Craspedia and Bupleurum all for the export market.

We camp at the Bupleurum, a newly introduced export flower in Nyandarua that has become a solace to a few farmers tired of not very rewarding Irish Potato farming, the led cash crop in the county.

At the Bupleurum farm, measuring about a quarter acre we find Mr Simon Ndirangu Wambui, 33, popularly known as Symo wa Strawberry, in Nyandarua, social media, and political platforms.

This is a young man who has had many opportunities but wasted them all, enjoying life and engaging in politics, but who has timely reflected, refocused, and is on a rewarding journey to success, again.

After graduating from Miramar International College Muthiga campus in Kiambu County in 2013, but with no job at hand, Symo ventured into strawberry farming where with time he made some good money and became extravagant that at some point, he and a friend hired a private jet to Israel, for fun, to enjoy life, a trip that cost him more than Sh4 million.

“I was getting a lot of money supplying strawberries to supermarkets and other outlets in value addition to ventures including yoghurt-making companies. Clients were loading my account with deposits that I sometimes thought all that money was not mine,” he recalled.

At the time he decided to hire a jet to Israel, Symo had over Sh10 million in his bank account.
Back from Israel, Symo continued extravagant living, frequenting bars, and nightclubs in Kiambu and Nairobi counties.

“I would order beer for everyone with a crate for myself under the table. One day, an old man challenged me, he asked if I had a house of my own if am married, and if I had educated any of my children, my answer was negative to all the questions, I took the advice seriously and decided to build a house and get married,” said Symo.

But that was just a decision, back home, he found the strawberry farm collapsing, he lost hope and joined other youth hooligans in political campaigns in 2016 for the 2017 general elections.

After the elections, he resulted to blogging as he tried to revive strawberry farming, which was picked by last year’s elections when he again made the mistake of going back to politics, where he sponsored a governor candidate with Sh3.5 million as an investment if the politician won the elections, but he lost.
But he is back at the farm, this time wiser, with loads of research and reading materials in his room to complement his lessons at the agricultural college.

Bublium was his starting point, and the promising returns from the trial garden motivated him to invest more in the flowers, with proper timing guided by the seasons and export market abroad.

The specific farm where he is harvesting on this day is about a quarter an acre holding 39, 000 flower Bupleurum type, which he sells at Sh15 per plant.

The plants are in 52 beds, each with 30 stools while, according to our counting, the stool with the lowest number of plants has 25 blossoming plants.

The stools have a spacing of about ten inches between plants and about 20 inches between rows.
“The biggest challenge at the start is having the soils soft, as you can see, the land here is the virgin meaning we must plant some other crop to fine the soils. Though I had vowed never to grow Irish Potato due its market frustrations, I am forced to plant them since they are labour-intensive at the farms and the result is at harvesting, the soils will have acquired the texture I need for the flowers,” said the agronomist.
He says Bublium seeds which are planted directly at the beds are similar to those of carrots, with poor germination rate if the texture of the soil is unfriendly.

“A simple error can be disastrous and very costly. The seeds are very expensive at Sh36,000 per kilo, yet is also cumbersome to get the best quality seeds. In total, inclusive of other costs like land preparation and inputs, I have invested Sh56, 000 on this quarter acre piece of land planted with the Bupleurum,” said Symo.

The beds are prepared at a height of about ten inches to ensure the right soil texture and also for drainage purposes, and the seeds are directly shallow planted at 2 inches, but they are not covered with soil if planted when it rains, it’s important to have the soils fine since Bupleurum is tap-rooted.
“The soils here are virgin and I am next to the Aberdare Forest, I, therefore, do not need to apply any fertilizer, I collect the leaves from indigenous trees at my farm and at the forest which I use to make compost manure, then foliar feeding about two weeks after germination. I have not experienced any major disease or pest attack, the most important this is weed control, the farm must be weed-free at all times,” said Symo.

At harvest for the market, the flowers are sorted and graded to three according to the size, from the shortest, medium, and tallest to t cater to all income earners and social classes in the EU and US markets where most of the flowers are exported.

“Understanding the seasons, and festivals and monitoring climate factors in other parts of the world is critical in this agribusiness. In Times like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Easter Holidays yellow flowers sell better, while around Valentine’s Day red flowers sell better, one must plan well in advance, right now I am done planning for this year, and am planning for February next year and beyond. On climate and weather patterns, it’s important to know how other parts of the world are faring, if there are storms and extreme winters you are sure that the EU countries will not grow flowers so a good market is guaranteed.
The first harvest is done the second month after planting, harvesting weekly for one and half months, when the farmer will pocket not less than Sh585, 000.

Enticed by the handsome earnings, the farmer is extending the flower farms, with four acres already planted with the flowers, while more than five others are planted with Irish Potato in land preparation for the flowers.

Mr Daniel Muchiri, the County Crops director says flower farming is a lucrative business, but the market is the main frustration to many farmers.

“Flowers have a ready market, but the farmer venturing into it must have connections with the exporters since they have limited local market. It is a market-driven crop. Last year, flower growers exported Sh90 billion worth of flowers,” said Mr Muchiri.

He says export flowers like Bupleurum do better in fine well well-drained soils, not flooded areas, but with enough soil moisture.

“The farmer must avoid floods potential parts of the farm. The main challenges facing the plants are flooding and fungal and bacterial infections, but they are not serious challenges if the farmer is keen to monitor and liaise with experts at the right time,” said the agronomist.