Sue Auma
Author
Mr. Finelius Irungu has finally found his dream crop – climbing beans. For years, this tea farmer in Murang’a County had been going through his usual routine. He would wake up early, harvest his tea leaves and then wait a whole year for a bonus payment.
But two years ago, after doing calculations, he decided to quit growing tea, uprooted his tea bushes in King’ori Village and ventured into horticultural farming, planting tree tomatoes, cabbages, and other vegetables.
“Earnings from tea are peanuts compared to horticulture,” says Mr. Irungu. “Tea farming is capital and labor-intensive. I was a slave of tea farming, waking up early in the mornings in chilly weather to harvest the leaves, and wait for a whole year to get a payment that hardly sustained my family,” he says, adding that he earned an average of Ksh70,000 in tea bonuses.
The average production per acre here is 1,000 kilos of green leaf, while average bonus payment is Ksh50 a kilo. I did these calculations and realized that I was not in any business; I then decided to research on horticultural farming. This led me to a vocational agricultural training institute in Kiambu, where I discovered climbing beans.
“I now practice what I learned at the institute,” he says, adding, “I can confidently say that most farmers live in poverty for lack of information.”
Today, he is assured of Ksh 144,000 from his quarter acre farm every three months, while other farmers toil on one acre for a whole year to earn less than what he gets from a quarter acre. His investment is an average Ksh12,000, which includes costs for land preparation, manure, weeding¸ seeds, supporting sticks and harvesting. Manure takes about Ksh5,000, and supporting sticks, Ksh2,000. Weeding costs Ksh1,200 at Ksh 300 per day.
Last year, he planted about a quarter of a kilo of the beans on a plot of about 10 by 25 feet. He harvested 80 kg of beans. Mr. Irungu has now entered into contracts with seeds shops in Othaya and Mathioya sub-counties to supply them with climbing bean seeds.
He says there is a guaranteed market, so long as a farmer produces high-quality beans. Runner beans are preferred due to their high nutritional value and better production potential than traditional bush beans.
“Good returns motivated me to increase the area under climbing beans to a quarter of an acre last year. I harvested 720 kg, equivalent to eight sacks of 90kg each.” He sold a kilo at Ksh 200, pocketing Ksh 144,000. This was his third attempt following a trial and error period.
According to Mr. Peter Chege, an agricultural officer with RODI-Kenya, with proper agronomy and spacing, an acre of land can produce up to 32 bags of climbing beans, compared to an average production of 11-90 kg bags for bush beans.
Article source - SmartFarmerKenya
But two years ago, after doing calculations, he decided to quit growing tea, uprooted his tea bushes in King’ori Village and ventured into horticultural farming, planting tree tomatoes, cabbages, and other vegetables.
“Earnings from tea are peanuts compared to horticulture,” says Mr. Irungu. “Tea farming is capital and labor-intensive. I was a slave of tea farming, waking up early in the mornings in chilly weather to harvest the leaves, and wait for a whole year to get a payment that hardly sustained my family,” he says, adding that he earned an average of Ksh70,000 in tea bonuses.
The average production per acre here is 1,000 kilos of green leaf, while average bonus payment is Ksh50 a kilo. I did these calculations and realized that I was not in any business; I then decided to research on horticultural farming. This led me to a vocational agricultural training institute in Kiambu, where I discovered climbing beans.
“I now practice what I learned at the institute,” he says, adding, “I can confidently say that most farmers live in poverty for lack of information.”
Today, he is assured of Ksh 144,000 from his quarter acre farm every three months, while other farmers toil on one acre for a whole year to earn less than what he gets from a quarter acre. His investment is an average Ksh12,000, which includes costs for land preparation, manure, weeding¸ seeds, supporting sticks and harvesting. Manure takes about Ksh5,000, and supporting sticks, Ksh2,000. Weeding costs Ksh1,200 at Ksh 300 per day.
Last year, he planted about a quarter of a kilo of the beans on a plot of about 10 by 25 feet. He harvested 80 kg of beans. Mr. Irungu has now entered into contracts with seeds shops in Othaya and Mathioya sub-counties to supply them with climbing bean seeds.
He says there is a guaranteed market, so long as a farmer produces high-quality beans. Runner beans are preferred due to their high nutritional value and better production potential than traditional bush beans.
“Good returns motivated me to increase the area under climbing beans to a quarter of an acre last year. I harvested 720 kg, equivalent to eight sacks of 90kg each.” He sold a kilo at Ksh 200, pocketing Ksh 144,000. This was his third attempt following a trial and error period.
According to Mr. Peter Chege, an agricultural officer with RODI-Kenya, with proper agronomy and spacing, an acre of land can produce up to 32 bags of climbing beans, compared to an average production of 11-90 kg bags for bush beans.
Article source - SmartFarmerKenya