How youth in Nyamira are digging riches in horticulture nursery business

Eric Ogato at his father's farm in Makairo, Nyamaira County on 25/10/2024. He uses social media to market his fruits and vegetables seedlings. [Stanley Ongwae, Standard] Life in the Village has been such sweet experience for Nick Otiso, 28, from the time he started earning plum returns from his horticulture nursery business. His sweet experience of selling vegetables and fruits seedlings started during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown when he had freshly graduated from Eldoret Polytechnic where he was pursuing a course in general agriculture. Nick plants kales, cabbages, capsicums and tomatoes using greenhouse technology. He uses Facebook, X, WhatsApp and YouTube to reach out to both potential and existing clients. His business has emerged as one of the best because of the profound ability to harness the social media forums in promoting his agribusiness. He currently has a huge following of 3,000 farmers on Facebook while his WhatsApp groups have close to 2,000 followers. After his graduation from college, the youthful farmer had resolved to engage in a pastime farming activity that would enable him earn some little cash that could enable him to search for formal employment. "I had seen how farmers were getting frustrated in finding seedlings for vegetables and fruits. Some had tried doing their own nurseries but ended up in frustration. I immediately thought of solving the problem for them by doing a small horticulture nursery. It worked so well as farmers overwhelmingly bought the seedlings for planting," narrates Nick. And four years down the line, he never wants to look back. "No employer can pay me the money I make from my horticulture business," Nick admits. At his father's five-acre piece of land at Makairo Village in West Mugirango, Nyamira County, Nick is always a busy man. He has abot 20 young people who work with him in the six greenhouses he has. He is always on a phone call. No hour passes without a farmer calling, wanting to either inquire about availability of the seedlings, placing orders, or just seeking after-care assistance on their delivered orders. Nick's story of success is one of resilience, determination and hope. He started with 5,000 crop seedlings and now he grows around 1.5 million. This is dispite numerous challenges. For instance, guarding against diseases and pests in the nursery has been a key challenge that he has learnt to deal with over the times. To prevent transmission of soil-borne bacterial and viral diseases as well as harmful insects, Nick avoids using ordinary soils. He uses a medium he makes from ground coconut shells(cocopeat) and an organic substance which is derived from some special mineral substance called vermiculite. Nyamira County Director for crops Jacob Keror says the nursey growing medium is ideal especially owing to the fact that the seeds are transported for planting in various places with various types of soils hence making adaptability easy for the seedlings. "Cocopeat and vermiculite are favorable substances because they are uncontaminated and can support growth of the plants without any pre-conditioning. Plants raised in the medium never develop any challenges with nutrient shock and they adapt very fast and uniformly," Keror says. Besides the medium, Nick germinates the seeds in special palates that have uniform depressions that are filled with the planting medium before the seeds are planted inside. Nick first fills the growing medium in palates that hold a total of 200 plants before putting seeds in them. The seeds grow in a cycle of between one to two weeks before they are sold out. Nick's customer network is Kenya-wide and he has an extensive reach to potential clients while he maintains a sustainable partnership with them. He stands out as among numerous other youths who have been roped into agriculture as a better alternative to the growing unemployment challenge among young people across the country. Eric Ogato who is Nick's agemate is among tens of other youths from Makairo village who have already listed themselves as those interested in doing crop farming. At his father's farm, Ogato has planted a quarter of an acre of mature cabbages which he says was given to him by Nick. "I have been very much involved in farming and Nick was the one who mentored me in it," Ogato says. Nyamira Agriculture Executive Alice Manoti says the county government is already in agreement with Practical Action (a non-state player empowering youth in agriculture) and 10,000 youths are being mentored on practical aspects of modern farming and agribusiness. "The model of our mentorship is based on training the young people and exposing them to necessary skills and expertise to ensure that agriculture is viewed as an area with potential to create wealth," Manoti says. Inclusion of more young farmers in the farming grid, Manoti says, is an initiative that is aimed at increasing prospects of multiple crop production in preparation for the upcoming aggregated agro-industrial park at Sironga in the County. "The industrial park is a big initiative that will require as much agricultural produces as possible. We are assured that we are going to excel with the youths actively involved," the CEC says.

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