This archive report was first published on 7 September 2019.
Located 14 kilometers from Ngurubani town in Mwea, Kirinyaga County, is the farm of Jackson Karani, a former police officer who has found success in agribusiness.
Mr. Karani, who served in various capacities including as an OCS before retiring in 2007, has invested over Sh500,000 in his farm, which hosts a number of crops including French beans and animals such as goats and cows.
Published on September 7, 2019, Mr. Karani's farm is a testament to the potential of agribusiness in Kenya. He harvests over a tonne of French beans per acre, up to five times a week, using furrow irrigation to overcome the hot and dry climate in the region.
Mr. Karani hires a tractor to plough the land at Sh3,000 per acre and then makes furrows, waters the soil a day before planting, and hires mainly women to plant, maintaining a spacing of 3-4 inches from plant to plant.
He then applies fertilizer, starting with DAP and CAN mixed in a ratio of 4:2 bags, and waters the crop. The plants germinate after five days, and Mr. Karani applies crop-specific fertilizer at 14 weeks and sprays every week to get rid of insects such as white flies and mites.
Mr. Karani sells the produce to Frigoken Limited and rotates French beans with maize, beans, and tomatoes. He also rears Alpine and Toggenburg dairy goats, a project he started in 2015 with backing from Maisha Board Self-Help Group.
Mr. Karani purchased four more goats and the number has risen since then, with the farmer selling 20-30 kids every year at Sh8,500 each when they are about four months old. He sells a mature goat at between Sh16,000 and Sh20,000.
Mr. Karani keeps a buck that serves the does and retains it for one-and-a-half years to avoid inbreeding, before he takes it back to DGAK in Nyeri for rotation at a cost of Sh4,000. He uses manure from the animals on his French beans farm and currently milks five goats out of his 25, each producing a maximum of three litres.
Mr. Karani also rears Friesian cows, which he purchased in 2011 at a cost of Sh120,000 each. On average, he manages 25 and 20 litres of milk from the animals, selling each at Sh60 locally.
Mr. Karani has five workers and hires 30-60 casuals when need arises. He has learned to be patient in farming and attends regular training to boost one's knowledge. Farming pays when done right, he says.
