Yellow passion fruit gives maize farmers new hope

Mary Wambua, a Sweet Yellow passion fruit farmer inspects her crop in the farm. She is among 5, 000 others who have swapped maize for fruit farming. PHOTO/ By JOHN SHILITSA

It has long been uneconomical for Mary Mwambua to grow maize on her small parcel of land.

So, when Ms Mwambua, who comes from Shirotsa Ikoko village in Kakamega County, was told about the potential in passion fruit, she was happy to try her hand at something that sounded more lucrative.

Around mid this year, she took the plunge and planted 35 sweet yellow passion fruit stems. She expects to harvest 32 kilogrammes of the fruit in January.

Certified seedlings

“Currently, a kilo can be bought at between Sh50 and Sh150, depending on whether the fruits are sold locally or exported to other areas outside Western Kenya. I anticipate to pocket more than Sh50,000 from the first harvest alone,” Mwambua said, adding she has never harvested more than 40 kilos of maize from her land.

“I don’t regret embracing passion fruit farming since I would end up disappointed whenever I planted maize.”

Mwambua is also intercropping the fruit with vegetables, and expects this to substantially raise her earnings.

Khwisero Mpya Agency, an NGO engaged in promoting horticulture, supplied her and other farmers in the area with certified seedlings and training in passion fruit husbandry.

“Passion fruit is prone to diseases such as woodiness virus and stingy buck, which is mainly transmitted by insects that sap fluid or jelly from developing fruits and cause infection in the process,” said Samuel Ambundo, Khwisero Mpya’s project co-ordinator.

He added that the sweet yellow variety is sturdy, and though flowering begins early, a farmer needs to wait about nine months to harvest the fruit.

One can harvest sweet yellow passion fruit for five years before yields decline.

According to Mr Ambundo, for the venture to make economic sense, a farmer needs at least 24 stems of the fruit, which he adds is drought tolerant.

Patrick Opembe, the patron of Khwisero Mpya, said his organisation’s focus is to introduce as many farmers as possible to fruit farming.

“Khwisero is the only sub-county in Western without a cash crop; we want to make this fruit the main crop in this area.”

Project sustainability

Mr Opembe added that the training and sensitisation programmes being conducted, as well as the distribution of seedlings, will help sustain the project.

“Fruits don’t need much space to grow, and many people here have small farms,” he said.

So far, about 5,000 farmers have shown interest in growing sweet yellow passion fruit and received training.

Kuguru Company has also indicated plans to buy the fruit from farmers in the region, with Khwisero Mpya hoping to expand the area under the fruit to 1,000 hectares to meet the demand.

“We call upon other players, including county and national governments, to get involved and help put up a fruit processing plant to create jobs for our youth and a ready market for the produce,” said Opembe.

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