Uasin Gishu County and the entire North Rift region is known for producing maize, wheat and milk. In almost every homestead, you will not miss a dairy cow or a land used for maize farming.
This, however, is not the case for Nimrod Kibet, a graduate from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).
Kibet, 29, opted for a less popular venture in the region, horticultural farming. He began on a two-acre piece of land on the outskirts of Eldoret town with a capital of Sh150,000 where he planted vegetables and fruits.
“The beginning was never easy owing to limited capital and the market scope but determination and self-discipline enabled me to overcome some of the challenges,” Kibet says as quoted by Business Daily.
Through the vegetables, the university graduate used to save more capital which enabled him to practice drip irrigation.
This is a more expensive kind of irrigation as he explains; “Drip irrigation requires massive investment to install appropriate equipment and adopt up-to-date crop production techniques to meet international standards.”
“It requires an average of Sh300,000 to fit a suitable drip irrigation system which is a challenge to most farmers,” he added.
He plants baby corn, French beans, snow peas, sugar snaps and such fruits as passion and tree tomatoes under the drip irrigation which is giving him good returns due to the ready market.
From an investment of Sh6,000 snow peas for two and a half months, the farmer earned Sh26,000 and a further Sh175,000 from baby corn after injecting Sh60,000.
From Kibet’s experience, horticulture farming is definitely a lucrative venture any farmer should think of doing.
The availability of an airport in Eldoret town makes it easy for the horticulture products to be transported to the international market.
However, there is still a challenge of storage at the farm level which Kibet has a solution to, buying improvised charcoal cooler system that goes for Sh70,000 and lasts for about four to five years.
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