My sea of onions in the desert

Sere fields punctuated by a cluster of homesteads can be seen as one heads to Machakos town, through Katheka-Kai.

The road is parched and dusty, a manifestation of the bad weather conditions in the area.

Our destination is at Elizabeth Nyamai’s African Green Farm, where she grows vegetables, tree tomatoes and onions, among other crops.

The former Ministry of Agriculture employee says she amassed vast knowledge in farming during her employment that she decided to take early retirement and make use of it outside the office.

Sometime in 2012 soon after retiring, Elizabeth plunged her resources into her 22 acres that were lying idle in Machakos.

She contracted agricultural experts who set up drip irrigation pipes on seven acres as she sought to turn the land greener.

She ploughed Sh800,000 into the land where she grows onions, collard green (sukuma wiki), spinach, tree tomatoes, eggplant and fruits.

“My experience in the sector gave me confidence to come and farm in the drylands. I figured out that to maximise profit, I need to diversify, the reason I grow different crops,” says the 53-year-old whose farm looks like an oasis in the middle of a desert.

Onions, however, occupy the pride of place on her farm. She has sub-divided the five acres under onions into several blocks.

To grow the crop, she starts with buying seeds from certified dealers in Nairobi, then plants them in a seedbed, and, thereafter, transfers the seedlings to the main farm after 45 days.

The blocks are all lined with drip irrigation pipes, running their entire lengths and widths, while a reliable borehole on the farm supplies all the water required to run the venture and the rest of the projects.

“The labour intensive nature of the crop forces me to contract more workers especially during the planting and harvesting seasons.”

PLENTY OF WATER

But she has found a way of cutting the costs. To weed for instance, she uses herbicides, which are effective and cheaper.

The crops are watered once per day or after two days, usually in the evenings or early night, depending on the prevailing weather conditions, and also due to the deep soil and its water retaining nature, conditions which she says are a perfect for the crop to thrive.

Her different onion blocks contain crops planted at varied times ensuring their constant supply to her customers.

“Good timing and a good study of the market are vital in ensuring good returns from onions,” she notes, adding that when well-timed, she is capable of selling the produce at more than Sh110 per kilo or down to about Sh65 when planning wasn’t good enough.

The farming enthusiast is now able to harvest 10-15 tonnes of onions per acre, and with five acres under the crop, she gets an upwards of 45 tonnes in a good year’s harvest.

Ruth Muriuki, a horticultural expert from Egerton University, says while the initial cost of setting up such a venture is deemed to be high, in the long run it is an effective and cheap way of crop production in arid areas.

She maintains that horticultural farming is economically viable in such areas, provided conditions for growth of the crops cultivated are met, while also ensuring that one understands the working systems of the drip irrigation concept, ensuring that there is plenty of water available.

According to her, pests and diseases such as onion thrips, onion fly, leaf miners, downy mildew, purple blotch, white bulb rot and onion rust are the main threats to onion farming.

MORE LAND RECLAMATION

Upon harvesting, Elizabeth packs her produce in 100kg bags, 90kg bags or in nets, according to the destined market, with traders buying the onions in bulk for distribution to retailers in markets countrywide.

“Onions mature in about six months from when their seeds are planted on the seedbeds. The fact that I plant the crop on different blocks ensures I supply throughout the year.”

Sections of the remaining irrigated land are under collard green and spinach that occupy about an acre, cabbages that take up about a quarter acre and passion fruits that are intercropped with the vegetables.

The tree tomatoes, aubergines and numerous banana plants line the edges of the farming blocks.

She has also already embarked on reclaiming more of the land, this time for tomato growing. Her tomato crop is still young, having been planted only a few weeks before.

Her cabbages are sold in the local market and hotels in the town, at a cost of Sh30–Sh70 depending on their sizes.

She sells spinach and Sukuma wiki directly to neighbours who frequently throng her homestead to buy the vegetables, while suppliers to small-scale market have also found a source of fresh produce, where a sack of the goes for Sh1,000.

“Some dry lands are fertile like other regions and if you have the determination and will to practice agriculture in such areas, it is achievable provided you have the resilience and water,” she offers, adding that she is in the process of resetting the pipes to accommodate more crops to enable maximum use of the land.