Olpusimoru farmers embrace farm machinery to boost potato production

In modern days farming, technology has been touted as the next game changer. Two brothers Nickson Lesirko Kerema and Justus Nampaso have tapped into this technology to fulfill their farming desires. From one corner of their farm to the other are outstanding farm machineries that they have invested in, on their 126ha piece of land in Olpusimoru area, Narok County. All their farming practices from ploughing, spraying, weeding, crop harvesting and water management are mechanized which have made their work efficient, faster and easier.

The idea to mechanize their farm came when they realized that they were spending a lot of money on labour costs. “During ploughing and harvesting, there is normally a load of work and requires us to seek more farm hands which is an extra cost. But we realized when we have machines like a tractor and a combined harvester, the workload is reduced and the cost of operation goes down. We only source for labour when sorting, packing and sewing the potato bags. Each bag we pay ksh100 and loading potato sacks to Lorries we pay 50 shillings per bag,” Justus explained.

Mechanization of their farm has attracted agricultural machinery distributor; FMD East Africa, who offer a series of training workshops on their farm to farmers in the region. The workshops are aimed at sensitizing farmers on how they can reduce frequent breakdown of their machines, reduce repair costs and increase returns on investment. They also educate the farmers on the latest agricultural machinery trends and the advantages of mechanization for healthy yields.

“The trainings by FMD are very helpful to us. Farmers who bring their farm machineries usually benefit from free inspection. Most farm technologies are perceived to be complicated and expensive to maintain but for us, everything is manageable. Purchasing a tractor and combine harvester can cost a farmer an arm and leg but once you have bought them, changes in terms of cutting cost are experienced,” Nickson Lesirko Kerema said.

The machines have been a sagacious apt to their potato and wheat farming. Apart from having machines, they have adopted best farming practices which include choosing the best variety of potato tubers with high yields. They are cultivating super shangi and Pima suth which matures in 90 days and they reap 120 bags of potatoes in an acre.

Their journey to crop cultivation in a fairly pastoral community was an initiative that was spearheaded by Pro-Mara, a non-governmental organization in the region which was encouraging pastoralist to adopt crop farming. Though the organization initiative was not fully successful as it faced wrath from community leaders who saw interferences on their cultural beliefs, they are proud to have embraced the knowledge. They got into farming in 2002 and the proceeds have made them glued to their farm. “March-April is the ‘Gold’ season for potatoes in the country; prices are good, a bag of potato retail at Ksh 4,500. Low season is August to November where the prices drop to a Ksh 1,500, when there is glut of the commodity in the market,” Justus said.

Their niche market is Mombasa where they are the main suppliers of Kongowea market, Malindi and Kilifi. “Nairobi market is infiltrated by middlemen who take advantage of farmers. We used to sell our produce there but we were totally disappointed in the manner they were handling us. We quit when we found Mombasa favorable though transportation cost is a little bit expensive,” Kerema explained.

Fake chemicals and poor state of the roads in Olpusimoru area is their biggest headache. When the rains pound it becomes a challenge for farmers in the region to access the market.