• The most important crop to me now is avocado of the hass variety. The fruit has a limitless market in Europe.
  • It is bigger than coffee. One properly watered tree of hass avocado can give you 1,000 fruits a year, which comes to Sh8,000.
  • Relief seeds is far more helpful than relief food. With the poorest soil conditions, the 2kg should be able to give us three to five bags.
  • To increase the market for farmers, we have also launched the Murang’a County Schools Milk Programme. Pupils from nursery to Standard Eight get a packet every week.

The most important crop to me now is avocado of the hass variety. The fruit has a limitless market in Europe.

We just can’t satisfy that market. Before we regularised the market, farmers used to sell a fruit for as low as Sh1.

Now they sell one for Sh8. We negotiated with four buyers and set the minimum price. Last year farmers in Murang’a earned Sh500 million from avocados.

It is bigger than coffee. One properly watered tree of hass avocado can give you 1,000 fruits a year, which comes to Sh8,000.

However, we have also distributed four million seedlings of the high-yielding Batian variety that is resistant to coffee berry disease and leaf rust.

We gave out 100 seedlings per farmer and they are now harvesting this coffee. The variety has significantly boosted productivity, raising it from Sh17 a kilo to Sh61.

We have also addressed food crops. We have given farmers 2kg of high quality maize seeds depending on their altitude.

Relief seeds is far more helpful than relief food. With the poorest soil conditions, the 2kg should be able to give us three to five bags.

Anything on value addition?

In a month’s time we will have the first farmers owned milk factory since independence. This will complete the milk value chain.

To increase the market for farmers, we have also launched the Murang’a County Schools Milk Programme. Pupils from nursery to Standard Eight get a packet every week.

But how sustainable is this?

The infrastructural investments we have are long-term. With the right management, our children should be able to drink this milk in a sustainable manner.

Why did Murang’a choose to go the organic manure way?

Instead of going for the usual inorganic fertilisers, we went for manure because it has a lasting restorative power on soil.

We buy manure from across the country and sell it to farmers at subsidised rates. It is one of the most popular products.

contact us for hass avocado seedlings

 

 

 

 

 

 

source: nation.co.ke/business/seedsofgold/