Nyandarua farmer shifts from Irish Potato to Strawberry Farming
A friend introduced him to strawberry farming, training and mentoring him to success, and also gave Mr Mwangi some seedlings for propagation.
After years of market frustrations in the potato industry, some farmers in Nyandarua are diversifying to more lucrative crops, At Nyairoko village, Mr Simon has ventured into strawberry farming, a venture embraced by several farmers in Ol Joro Orok and Ndaragua constituencies.
He plants the heavily vegetative crop on rows of raised beds covered with a black liner to mitigate against the vagaries of weather, and also as a way of weed and pest control. The farmer ventured into strawberry farming last year, and he has no regrets, planning to expand the investment.
For decades, Mr Mwangi was a fruit vendor before moving back to the rural home to engage in farming activities, joining his neighbors to grow Irish potato, the main Nyandarua cash crop.
“I felt frustrated by potato, the cost of production is prohibitive while the prices are frustrating, there is a lot of farmer exploitation by brokers who determine the prices,” said Mr. Mwangi. A friend introduced him to strawberry farming, training and mentoring him to success, and also gave Mr Mwangi some seedlings for propagation.
Back home, Mr Mwangi prepared his farm as he also did more research about best practices to make the berries growing a success. The land preparation involved digging and harrowing, drilling two boreholes, and installing of drip irrigation system costing him Ksh700,000.
“With best farming practices, a farmer can harvest 80 bags of potato per acre. The highest price per bag of potato a farmer earns is Sh2,500, a total of Sh200,000 after four months of extensive labor with a high cost of production per acre,” said the farmer. In a month, Mr Mwangi earns more than what a serious potato farmer earns after four months of toiling.
“I harvest a minimum of 500 punnets twice a week, on Mondays when I get 300 punnets, and on Thursdays when I harvest 200 punnets. I sell my produce through the same friend who recruited and trained me,” he explained.
The farmer earns between Sh150 and Sh180 per punnet depending on market trends. The monthly cost of production is Sh3,000 bags of top dressing fertilizer applied in a day by five casuals each paid Sh250. He has employed and trained seven casuals who do the harvesting at Sh250 per worker, a total of Sh1,750 per day, who also do the sorting, grading, and packaging.
Pruning to reduce the vegetation is a mandatory exercise to avoid nutrient competition between productive and non-productive branches. The pruned branches are used as natural animal feed supplements for dairy cows at the farm.
At planting, manure is a critical component, which he spread like in top dressing after harrowing the land, then mixed the manure at the time of making the raised beds. “I used two big trucks of manure at land preparation which I also spread like in top dressing, then mixed it with soils before covering it with the polythene paper. Besides enriching the soils, manure is also good for moisture conservation,” said Mr Mwangi.
The farmer says that the liner helps in weed control as well as moisture conservation. Agronomist Simon Mwangi says that with proper agronomy, a plant of strawberry can be harvested for up to five years. “After five to six years of harvesting, the production will start declining. The best thing is to uproot the crop, plant a different type of crop in what we call crop rotation then replant the strawberries,” said Mr the agronomist
