FARMKENYA INITIATIVE
Joel Mokaya tends to his Hass avocado seedlings that will be distributed to farmers at Kisii Agricultural Training Centre. [Sammy Omingo, Standard]
Bananas and avocados are emerging as the main ‘cash’ crops in Kisii and Nyamira counties, as locals now grow them in large scale where tea and coffee thrived.
Nyamira and Kisii enjoy climatic conditions that favour agriculture. The sector employs more than 70 per cent of the workforce; mainly through small-scale production of food crops using non-mechanised techniques.
However, the region has fast had a change from industrial crop to horticultural production, not only for an increase in overall income per capita, but also for the increasing subsistence production for the growing population. However, with the changing climatic conditions and reducing land sizes, farmers have begun to embrace a new kind of farming.
Murang a farmers reap big from expanding avocado business standardmedia.co.ke - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from standardmedia.co.ke Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
FARMKENYA INITIATIVE
Crop
By Edwin Nyarangi | December 20th 2020 at 09:00:00 GMT +0300
Jeremiah Mbaka inspects his Hass avocado variety at his Magenche farm Kisii County. [Sammy Omingo, Standard]
Jeremiah Mbaka obtained a diploma in automotive engineering from Rongo University in 2007 and went to South Sudan for two years doing various jobs.
Mbaka, 40, returned home in 2010 and was employed as a sales representative with Sameer Africa in Nairobi for five years.
During his tenure at Sameer, he marvelled at the high tonnage of avocados being exported out of the country through the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
In 2016, he resigned and went back to his Bomoseri village home in Magenche area in Bomachoge Borabu, Kisii County to venture into Hass avocado farming.