Make Millions of shillings from your small farm through integrated farm management.

Mr. Maina, is a successful farmer in Kiambu district Kenya has proved you don’t need hundreds or thousands of Acres of land to make millions. He also demonstrated to me that you don’t need to invest hundreds of thousands for you to achieve good income from your farm. “All you need is to think” he says. “I am using locally available materials, seeds and common sense he added.”

A section of the farm.

In a year he earns $ 20,000-30,000 after deducting all his expenses from his 4 acre farm which translates to about Ksh 2,000,000-3,000,000. Earning this amount of money as a small scale farmer is a tall order. He is not doing any extraordinary things but he strives to time the market requirements. All his production is aimed coincide with times of peak demand.

First i sought to know which crops; and what farming activities he undertakes to earn him such a tidy sum of money. His secret was how he organized his farm enterprises and proper timing of the market. His strategy is simple, yet it has borne him fruit.

“For many years i received mediocre returns from the farm when planting maize and other crops like the rest of the crowd”He laments! After gathering information on the internet and visiting farmer conferences, he decided to come up with the following strategy which proved highly successful.

1. Start a tree nursery

The basis of the idea was that farmers realized that the earning potential of trees in the long run is higher. Many farmers were busy planting fast growing Eucalyptus seedlings, trees that could mature within 8 years and the earnings of the tree once fully mature could fetch Ksh  35,000. Imagine if a farmer could plant at least 10 trees in his farm, he was to earn 350,000.

Mr. Maina said “The most profitable enterprise is the trees section rural communities have appreciated the role trees play in the environment. Whenever a farmer visits my farm, i encourage them to consider trees as a long term investment that will prove useful during a rainy day.”

a section of the tree nursery.

“For me to get maximum returns from trees i  ensure that just before the rainy seasons commence, the tree nursery is fully stocked with seedlings.” He quips. “I am able during the rainy season, to sells up to 10,000 tree seedlings each at between Kenya shillings 30-50 which translates to 300,000- 400,000 shillings.” He adds while smiling.

2. Preparing grafted Passion fruit, Avocado and Mango trees

He realized that most farmers have within his locality have not mastered the art grafting of crops. The area being a passion fruit producing center, he grafts purple passion fruit on yellow passion fruit rootstock. The yellow passion fruit root stock is the best rootstock since it is resistant to nematodes, and other soil borne diseases and pests.

Grafted mangoes ready for sale

Because of his many years experience, the failure rate of the grafted union is only 3% and all his customers have confidence in his products. For every grafted plant he earns 80 shillings and he is able to sell 4,000-5,000 of them per season; which translates to 320,000- 400,000 shillings. He also grafts mango and avocado seedlings which yield the same amount of money as the grafted passion.

4. Growing bananas

He realized that there is a lot of competition among farmers when it comes to producing maize, beans and vegetables so he decided to plant bananas. He planted 200 of them along a small stream that cuts his farm into two, so they consume very little space.  photo showing how bananas have been grown along the stream.

For every banana bunch produced, he earns 600 shillings that translates to 120,000 shillings clean money per year. He also harvests about 120 suckers per year which he sells at 150 shillings each. That earns him Shs 18,000.

5. Keeping bees

there is a part of his farm that is infertile because the basement rock is too close to the ground and only shrubs can grow there successfully. Being a secluded area, he decided to put 5 Top bee hives there. The hives yield 60 liters of honey per year. 1 liter is sold for Shs 5,00 therefore he earns Shs 30,000 per year.

6. Keeping cows

He has 4 Friesian cows that are Zero grazed in his farm in a day they yield a total of 20 liters which he sells at 40 shillings a liter. in a year, he is able to earn a total of 120,000 from his animals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Having fish ponds.

He decided to increase his income by digging to fishponds that hold 2,000 fish. He harvests once in a year when the fish have attained a weight of 500- 800 grams. Each fish fetches 250 shillings therefore he can earn up to 400,000 shillings.

 

In conclusion the i realize this success was not achieved in one day. It is through timing the market, being creative and ploughing back the profits to the farms. This strategy worked out for Mr. Maina it doesn't mean it will work for you. You need to first understand where you are, what the market requires before embarking into any investment. I hope to get a feedback from you, thank you.