FARMING GREEN MAIZE IN KITALE: IS IT A CREDIBLE INVESTMENT?

There are many investment opportunities in the agricultural industry; among them is green maize farming.

This type of farming is different, as the farmer sells the maize while it is at the mature green stage.

Green maize is popular in Kenya; it’s cooked with beans to produce a popular meal known as githeri or it’s eaten roasted.

It has been estimated that an acre of maize costs a farmer 20,000-20,000 to produce. Once the maize is at the mature green stage, brokers/middlemen buy the crop at a cost 35,000-40,000 shillings per acre.

This means that a farmer will make a profit of 15,000-20,000 per acre. The broker takes care of all costs of harvesting, packing and transporting the maize.

When the maize is left to dry so that it is sold for flour production, one acre can produce 20 to 30 ninety kilogram bags.

A bag of dry maize is priced at 2,500-2,800 shillings. This means that a farmer is likely to earn between 50,000 to 84,000 shillings.

He will however incur the costs of harvesting, shelling, drying the maize, storage and treating the maize to guard against weevils.

All the aforementioned costs will eat into his profit and it is likely that the profit he will make will be lower than if he sold his maize at the green stage.

Dilemma facing potential investors

Growing green maize in Kitale seems like a worthy investment as the environment favors maize production, the soils are fertile, and the price of green maize is high at 3000 shillings for a 115-kilogram bag.

Unfortunately, most investors are greenhorns; they are not aware of the complexities in farming, land tenure and marketing green maize.

Here is what you require as an investor:

1. Land to hire or lease if you don’t own any

2. Tilling the Land, first harrow, and second harrow

3. Hire a planting machine

4. Weeding by laborers or control weeds through herbicides.

5. Spraying by tractor for pests and diseases

6. Harvesting by hand or machine

7. Transporting the maize from the farm to the market

8. Have a storage facility

A table showing the cost of some farm operations in Kitale

	Activity	Cost in shillings per acre
1.	Hiring land	3,000
2.	Plowing	4,000
3.	1st Harrowing	3,500
4.	2nd Harrowing	3,500
5.	Hybrid seeds	1,500
6.	Weeding by tractor spraying (this is what you will pay the owner of the tractor)	1,000(does not include the cost of herbicides and water)
7.	Spraying pests and disease using a tractor	1,000(does not include the cost of pesticide/fungicide and water)
8.	Harvesting by hand	2,500
9.	Transporting produce to the market	(This cost varies from farmer to farmer depending on his target market)
10	Total cost of input per acre	25,000 (approximate cost)

ACREAGE REQUIRED TO BREAK-EVEN

The ideal acreage if you intend to go commercial is 30 plus acres. To break even, you must have a minimum of 20 acres.

Commercial maize farming gets juicier as the cost of inputs comes down considerably with increased acreage.

If you are planting 100 acres and over, the best option is to buy a second hand tractor valued at 800,000-1,000,000 shillings.

To illustrate this point, the inputs required for one acre is estimated at 15,000 shillings thus 100 acres will cost 1.5 million shillings.

40% this costs of goes to the owner of the tractor; if you own the tractor, your costs will be reduced by a huge margin.

Furthermore, you will earn more when the tractor works for other small-scale farmers.

WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN LEASING LAND

Lease the land for a reasonable period for example 3-4 years. This will allow you to recoup your investments when the crop fails or the weather is not acting as expected.

You need to lease land in a secure area without many environmental challenges and communication that may pose high management and labor costs.

Avoid leasing land near wildlife sanctuaries, game parks and transit corridors as most of your production will be lost to them.

Securing one parcel of land that is over 30 acres is difficult and you are prone to fraudsters.

You need to conduct due diligence to and it’s important that you consult a lawyer to advice you on the terms of the lease.

SUPERVISION OF FARM OPERATIONS

You need to employ a trustworthy person to supervise the farm operations if you are operating from far.

The employee should be one who understands when and how to plough, harrow, and conduct any other essential operations, without these, you are liable to huge losses.

STRATEGIES OF REDUCING LOSS

A farmer engaging in this type of farming can get losses in the following manner;

When the maize of the entire farm matures at the same time, say 100 acres- this will lead to surplus production. This affects supply and demand leading to low prices being offered for the produce.

This can be solved by planting different portions of the farm with early maturing, middle maturing and late maturing varieties.

Another reason that may lead to losses is when the crop in a single field does not have uniform growth or maturity. The solution for this is to buy certified seed from a credible dealer.

HAND HELD MOTORIZED TRACTORS:THEIR POPULARITY, PERFORMANCE AND COST

Hand held motorized tractors have been touted as a solution for plowing small farms in Africa.

The low cost of these machines seems attractive to small scale farmers.

This is good news, as farmers in Africa and other developing nations have been using hoes or ox-driven plows for centuries.

The purpose of this article is to discuss the perceptions on the performance, practicability and cost of this machine.

RATIONALE FOR USING VARIOUS MACHINES TO PLOW

When farmer tills his land using a hoe, the maximum area he can plow in a day is an eighth of an acre when he is working alone and the soils are friable.

Where the soils are hard and clayey in nature, the area that a single farmer can plow using a hoe is less than an eighth an acre.

On the other hand, when an ox-driven plow is used, he can plow at-least half an acre per day, similarly when a tractor used, more than 6 acres can be plowed depending on the power of the tractor.

In an effort to address some of the challenges facing small farmers, engineers developed small hand held tractors commonly known as walking tractors.

This innovation has elicited great interest in the farming community and traders who want to promote their use as the equipment seem affordable, practicable, reliable and cost effective.

RESERVATIONS OF FARMERS INTERESTED IN HAND HELD TRACTORS

Farmers are interested in the experiences of those who are currently using the machines so that they can make an informed choice.

These experiences are on; the cost, performance, lifespan, maintenance cost, consumption of fuel per acre, and on the availability of spare parts of walking tractors.

However this information is not available as very few farmers are using the machine and they rarely share their experiences.

POPULARITY OF HAND HELD MOTORIZED TRACTORS

These machines are popular in countries like India, China, Korea and Turkey where they are used in plowing paddy fields.

Information does not exist indicating the first country to use this type of tractor, but their use is widespread in China, South Korea and Turkey.

However this technology is new to Africa, few farmers own them and have reported mixed experiences as they use them.

THE COST OF WALKING TRACTORS

There are a number of shops at river-road Street and industrial area in Nairobi that sell these machines. The prices range from 180,000-200,000 shillings.

The reason for the variance is the origin of the engine, its horsepower and the profit margin a particular vendor is targeting.

The models available in Kenya are imported from china and India with very few coming from turkey there are some that are assembled locally by Jomo Kenyatta University of agriculture and technology.

THE PERFORMANCE OF WALKING TRACTORS

No studies have been conducted in Kenya on the performance of various models under different soil conditions.

The available information is from the personal experiences of people who are using or have used such tractors.

It is therefore difficult to draw credible conclusions on the performance of the machines. For instance, it has been claimed that, it’s possible to plow 2 acres in a day using these tractors.

My personal experience is contrary to this claim, doing even ¼ of an acre is difficult and unhealthy.

Most of the models turned either left or right using levers during plowing. Turning the tractor either left or right is an energy sucking job that makings it impossible for one, two or three person to plow 2 acres in a day!

Secondly, the design of the tractor is such exhaust pipe of the engine is at top of the tractor. This means that if there some wind dangerous diesel fumes will be blown to your face which may cause health problems with extended use of the machine.

“I worked with a 35 HP walking tractor, handling the tractor was so difficult, the vibrations from the engine were powerful, I could feel the vibrations all the way to my spine” “I had to stop using for the sake of my health,” quips Eliud, a farmer in Busia County!