Caleb Karuga’s Story Depicts The True Journey To Agribusiness Success

“I would pray with my wife every morning: ‘God, today I want to be fired.’”

If he quit his job Karuga would have had to forfeit KSh. 1.3m (US$14,800) in benefits, so he held on until when his employer retrenched him alongside dozens of his colleagues. Looking back, Karuga says this was a blessing in disguise.

The founder and managing director of Wendy Farms tells How we made it in Africa that as a child he hated farming. Like most kids in his rural village, he was used as free labour in the family’s agricultural ventures.

“I grew up being forced to go to the coffee plantation. I hated having to water the cabbages after school. I would see my uncles playing tricks on their father and faking illnesses so they wouldn’t work at the farm. As a young boy I viewed farming as a form of punishment. I don’t blame any young person who hates farming because I did too.”

It was while on assignment nearly four years ago that Karuga interviewed a professional mole catcher and felt motivated to go into agribusiness. Farmers would hire the mole catcher to trap moles, which destroy crops, at a fee. Karuga notes that by his calculation the mole catcher probably took home at least KSh. 90,000 ($1,000) per month, some thousands more than he was making as a TV reporter.

Karuga leased a one acre piece of land in central Kenya and started Wendy Farms. Today he runs three farms where he keeps thousands of indigenous chicken, quails, guinea fowls and dairy goats and grows butternut, strawberry, sweet potatoes and sunflowers.

Every Saturday, groups of 30-40 people visit Wendy Farms for training on poultry farming. Karuga charges KSh. 1,000 ($11) per person for one session.

Many mistakes

Karuga says he started offering training sessions to help other entrepreneurs avoid making the mistakes he made. He notes that while his success story is inspiring for other youth, few know about the challenges he encountered along the way.

When Karuga first ventured into farming he acquired 200 pigs because pigs were the ‘it’ thing at the time. With no proper research, the venture failed.

He made another attempt, buying two hens and one cock.

“When the two hens started laying eggs I decided to buy more hens from neighbouring farms. That was my biggest mistake because some of the hens were not vaccinated. In a span of about a month and a half I had lost about 200 hens. I learned that you should never buy birds that you are not sure whether or not they have been vaccinated.”

Not one to give up easily, Karuga purchased 500 day-old chicks from the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, but once again made loses as his employees sold the chickens in his absence.

“Theft by employees was the major challenge we have faced. I bought the chicks at KSh. 100 ($1.14) each and after a month of feeding them my employees were selling them off for KSh. 50 ($0.57) each. When they matured I would be told the hens had ‘died’ of diseases.”

Karuga soldiered on and bought another 1,500 chicks, but because he used cheaper feed, egg production was poor. Eventually Karuga realised he would make three times more selling day-old chicks than what he was making selling eggs.

“I learned that in indigenous chicken farming the money is in day-old chicks, not eggs. It was like a light bulb moment for me. That is when I knew for sure I did not want to be employed anymore. I realised I had been sitting on a gold mine. I knew I needed to get fired and get it right with the business.”

Farming not for everyone

Despite his initial losses, Karuga says he has learnt a lot along the way.

“I believe in going through the learning curve. When a venture fails I don’t take it personally. It is the business that has failed, not me. I might have made a mistake but I choose to keep on the ball. I don’t make permanent decisions based on temporary situations.”

While it is encouraging to see more young people going into agribusiness, Karuga says the industry should not be romanticised.

“What we are seeing is people going into farming because they read a story in a newspaper. They don’t do thorough research and they have no passion for farming, but because it seems sexy they decide to take a loan and bury the money. Don’t make farming sexy because it is not.”

He warns that anyone looking to get into agribusiness needs to first have a passion for it.

“If your only motivation is to make money then you are getting into the wrong business.”

Passion Fruit Farming in Kenya: Success Story of Former Kibaki’s Security Advisor

After working for the National Intelligence Service and as former President Mwai Kibaki’s security advisor, Esau Kioni retired to start passion fruit farming in Othaya, Nyeri. He was in time to catch good prices as the demand for the fruit in Kenya was increasing and now he says the venture is earning him good money.

In the more than one and half acre piece of land, Mr Kioni has planted the ‘purple’ passion fruit that also does well in cold regions.

With his shamba located at the edge of the Aberdare forest, his plantation is doing well and every week, he is able to harvest more than half a tonne of the produce.

“When I made sure that my boss, Mr Kibaki was in safe hands, I decided to retire and venture into farming. However, I had not decided on what type of crop I was going to grow,” says Mr Kioni.

He wanted a crop that would do better than the usual crops that other farmers were growing — maize, coffee and tea.

The 71-year-old father of three says he first tried his hand at tissue culture bananas, which he bought from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

To diversify he went out searching for another crop to grow and a friend from the same university told him to try the purple passion fruit, which he now says has turned to be a success.

“I only started with a few crops but after I realised they were doing well and the fruits were in high demand, I decided to plant more,” Mr Kioni says.

Mr Kioni says he is unable to satisfy his market in Nairobi, adding that he sells a kilogramme at Sh100.

He however says there are times he hikes his price to Sh180 per kg depending on the availability of the fruit in the market.

To discourage diseases, Mr Kioni practices crop rotation by planting bananas or cabbages before again planting his passion fruits.

The fruit is prone to diseases and this has discouraged many farmers from planting it in large scale.

But Mr Kioni says despite the risk, he had to try his luck.

To avoid transferring diseases from one plant to another, he makes sure to dip his secateurs in Jik detergent to sterilise them while pruning.

Having realised the nutritional and market potential in the fruit, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (Kari) has developed three new passion fruit varieties, Kenya passion fruit number 4 (KPF 4), KPF 11 and KPF 12, after a 20-year research.

According to a report by The East African Fresh Produce Journal, experts say the new varieties could help lift the economic status of smallholder farmers and contribute to a rapid increase in passion fruit production.

The new varieties are not only drought tolerant but are more suited to the fresh market and processing.

Although these varieties are of similar physical characteristics with types grown in the coastal region, they are more superior in quality, according to Joseph Njuguna a fruit expert at Kari-Thika.

“The new varieties are sweet unlike those grown in the Coast region. They are also bigger in size, juicier and more tolerant to soil and foliar diseases,” he notes.

A multi-stakeholder project promoting commercialisation of passion fruit in Kenya is at the bulking stage, the phase in which Kari ascertains that there are enough certified seedlings for transfer to farmers. Kari has propagated 30,000 seedlings for distribution in Eastern, Central and parts of Rift Valley Provinces.

Soft drink companies, among them Coca-Cola, are encouraging farmers to plant more fruits by promising a ready market. Coca-Cola aims at starting to manufacture packed fresh fruit juices.

Mr Kioni is currently trying out a new type of avocado species that has a longer shelf life and doesn’t grow very tall.

Passion fruit farming guide for kenya

He has started with 200 seedlings of the Hass avocado from the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (Kari) and he says if all goes well, he will plant it in a similar acreage to that of his passion fruits.

“I love farming fruits since they have ready market throughout the year and apart from this advantage, they fetch good money,” says Mr Kioni.

We wrote this comprehensive passion fruit farming guide for Kenya and put it in PDF so you can even carry it in your phone and refer any time. You can now request for it from our Resources Page. 

Passion Fruit Farming in Kenya: The Costs and Expected Returns

Passion fruit, a climbing vine, is a versatile crop whose demand is growing in both export and domestic markets. It is the third most popular fruit in Kenya after mangoes and bananas respectively.

Passion fruit farming in Kenya

The fruit can be eaten fresh or consumed after extracting the pulp and making juice. Passion fruit juice is a delicacy and is in high demand in the local markets. The juice is used in a variety of products and the pulp may be added to different dishes. A wide range of cosmetic products and food flavours are derived from the fruit that is rich in Vitamins A and C and carotene.

Due to the huge and expanding market and the changing consumer preferences as Kenyans move from carbonated soft drinks to fresh juices, the popularity of passion fruit farming in Kenya is set to rise high. Furthermore, brands like Coca-cola, Afia juices and Del-Monte are already sourcing various fruits from farmers or are in the process of doing in a bid to tap fresh fruits processing segments.

Despite all the interest by fresh drink processors, the supply of passion fruits is very low. A visit to various market centres in Nairobi, Kiambu, Eldoret, Kisumu, Mombasa and other towns reveals that fewer traders sell the crop compared to bananas or mangoes. This indicates that very few farmers have taken the crop seriously as a source of revenue. This situation presents a huge income potential for farmers who will tap into passion fruit farming.

Economic potential

Passion fruit farming can easily be started with little capital yet the financial returns can be more than previously thought possible.

Daily Data from the ministry of agriculture website indicates that the average price of One kilo of passion fruits is 50 shillings in various markets centres of the country; however, farmers can still sell at a higher price, with some recording as high as sh.150 per kilo for choice fruits sold for export.

It is possible to earn high, if the farmer does direct marketing that involves approaching restaurants, supermarkets and hotels that in most occasions buy one kilo for 100 shillings.

Furthermore, the maturing and ripening of the fruits, does not happen at the same time; some take 3 days others 1 week others 2 weeks. This is advantageous, as it allows the farmer to harvest weekly and have time to market their produce.

It has also been proven that passions are perennial plants; once planted, their lifespan is long, often exceeding 3 years; all these depends on how the plant is managed and fertilized.

One plant if carefully tended can grow vigorously to a length of over 6 meters after the first 4-5 months of transplanting yielding up to 2kg of fruit every week during the high season. 

Passion fruit farming guide for Kenya

With a spacing of 2m by 3m, an acre would accommodate slightly more than 650 plants. Taking the lowest production of 1kg per week from each tree, an acre is able to give 650 kgs every week. We shall also take the lowest farm gate price possible which is Ksh60 for purple passion. That will earn you 39,000 per week for at least 6 months in a year. That will translate to Ksh 936,000 per year in Revenue. The cost of production per year is approximately ksh300,000: refer to the guide for breakdown. 

The cost of production and other relevant information is available in a comprehensive guide for passion fruit production in Kenya. You can now request for it from our Resources Page.