Peter Murekio, farming the underexploited Pawpaws profitably
Being born in a family that loves farming and inculcating the same values to their offsprings is a noble idea that should be embraced.
Peter Murekio Muriuki is one man who has been raised in a farming family set up. He was inspired to farming by his father who managed to feed them as well as pay schools fees for their 8 siblings yet he had no formal employment but cultivated coffee and array of other food crops.
Though he grew up knowing coffee as their main cash crop, Peter decided to free himself from the yoke of erratic coffee prices to a more promising and under exploited pawpaw farming which has been the secret for his success.
We recently tasted some pawpaw fruits he grows while visiting his farm in Kibirigwi, Kirinyaga County and we were thrilled by their sweetness. The hybrid pawpaw varieties he is farming are Vega F1 and Sinta F1 which are fast maturing and disease resistant. They are also hermaphrodites meaning they are able to fertilize and pollinate themselves. Pollination is a key component in pawpaw production because it determines fruit set and quality. They have a long shelf life and a very beautiful attractive color when ripe thus very attractive to customers.
Other attributes associated with the two varieties that has made them to be a darling to the farmer is that; they are characterized with short trees making harvesting easy, resistance to the virus, good capacity of fruits occupying the growing pawpaw tree, the flesh is delicious with sweet flavor, and quicker harvesting time, from planting to harvesting the first fruit are estimated to be within 7 months.
Before venturing into the hybrid varieties he had a stint farming traditional varieties which were susceptible to viral diseases. He carried out research on which varieties could thrive well in the locality and discovered Vega F1, and Sinta F1were more suitable. The climate and soil is ideal for pawpaw farming and this attracted him to seek early retirement to concentrate on this farming. Pawpaw has a number of benefits, one of them being used as a dessert fruit. Can also be used to make fruit salads, refreshing drinks, jam, jelly, candies and crystallized fruits.
Murekio story of pawpaw farming makes the deal even sweeter. For instance, he harvests 450 to 500 kilograms after every 10 days selling a kilo at Ksh 50. His crop is slightly over 1 year and when it attains peak production period he is projecting 750 to 1000 kilograms after every 10 days. His projections on the increase in production are pegged on increasing the feeding of the fruits while maintaining good crop husbandry. The lifespan of a pawpaw tree is 5 years, with a farmer harvesting produce for the entire period on weekly basis.
“The return from the crop is good. The market is very broad. I have several buyers and still I am not able to fulfill their demand. I have planted 750 pawpaw trees that occupy 3/4 of an acre and I attend to them on a daily basis,” he said.
To achieve good papaya production, the farmer sources for certified seeds from reputable seed company which are resistant diseases and propagate them for a period of two months in a nursery before embarking on transplanting.
Scouting and application of chemicals come in handy in pawpaw production. “While scouting, I always pluck and throw away the affected leaves to a far place to avoid spread of the disease. The roots of pawpaw tree should not be disturbed at all, instead to suppress weeds and for moisture conservation it should be mulched. Decomposing mulching release nutrients into the soil. In addition, embracing fertilizers that are rich in potassium is vital because the nutrients value of potassium is responsible for the sweetening of the fruit,” he stated.
Peter offers trainings to those interested in pawpaw farming. His decision to offer the trainings is informed by the fact he need to mentor people into this farming and he would not like them to go the way he did, extremely burning his fingers.
His ultimate plan is to increase his area of production by first seeking additional land which he intends to plant over 5,000 pawpaw fruits
