This archive report was first published on 4 November 2019.
Gregory Koech, a 29-year-old Eldoret farmer, has found success in passion fruits farming, a venture that has earned him a cool Sh30k per week.
Located 15 kilometers from Eldoret town, on the Eldoret-Kapsabet Road, Koech's two-acre farm is home to a thriving passion fruits crop. The Bachelor of Commerce graduate, who majored in marketing, started his passion fruit farming project in 2015 with a capital of Sh200,000.
"I started my passion fruit farming project in phases, testing the market before rolling out massive production phases," Koech says.
Initially, Koech grew 1,700 seedlings, which he purchased from a nursery in Iten. He had previously grown wheat and maize but shifted to passion fruits due to high production costs and poor prices for the cereal crops.
"I used to grow maize and wheat before, but the losses I incurred in 2015, and high cost of production of wheat, which requires a lot of mechanisation, and poor prices, made me to shift to horticulture," Koech explains.
On his farm, Koech practices good management techniques, including weeding, pruning, and spraying to reduce pests and diseases. He also applies top-dressing fertilisers, using a combination of local manure and CAN and NPK fertiliser.
"The cost of production of one seedling up to the time to harvest is Sh120, and I planted 1,700 seedlings in two acres. The produce per acre vary due to a lot of factors, but well managed farm can produce more than 700kgs per week," Koech says.
Currently, Koech sells his produce at Sh100 per kilo to clients who export to overseas markets, and at Sh70 per kilo to local buyers. He advises aspiring passion fruits farmers to consult agribusiness consultants and have a solid business plan in place.
"My future plan is to ensure that I export my own produce directly, without engaging the services of middlemen. In addition, I plan to grow the crop in a large farm which goes up to twenty acres and do value addition to the produce," Koech says.
