I intercrop pumpkins and maize for a great harvest

I love pumpkins. I love them so much that I believe I can survive on them alone.

I got interested in the fruits when I was growing up. My grandmother taught me how to grow them, harvest and prepare them for meals as I grew up in Kericho, where I was born 42 years ago.

Today I see a lot of sense in everything she taught me. The knowledge I learned pushed me into commercial pumpkin farming.
I intercrop pumpkins with maize on my three-quarter acre. Many farmers grow the latter with beans.

Pumpkins do well in dry and cold weather conditions, which is why one is guaranteed of harvest even when the rains fail.
The weather is very erratic these days, which means if you plant maize and beans, both can fail in case of dry spell.
The crops may also be attacked by diseases. But pumpkins overcome the two adversities, the reason why I love them.
When planting, I start with maize , then follow with pumpkins two weeks later.

I normally get the seeds from my produce and process them for planting. This includes drying them in the sun for weeks.

Maize normally takes about six months to mature, so I harvest it first and leave pumpkins in the farm, which mature in seven to eight months.
The good thing with intercropping maize and pumpkin is that the latter helps to curb weeds.

Pumpkin leaves spread in the farm and cover it thus stopping weeds from growing. By covering it, they also help to prevent the soil from losing water.

I, thus, weed the crops once, at five weeks, because of the pumpkins. From the small piece of land, I harvest between 300 and 400 pumpkins.

I cannot compare this with beans because some farmers only get half a 90kg sack from their three-quarter-acre farm. I sell the pumpkins to my neighbours in Ngata Bridge estate where I live and to students at the Rift Valley Institute of Science and Technology (RVIST), where I work as a housekeeper.

Last year, I earned an average of Sh40,000 from selling pumpkins. I have made Sh30,000 so far this year and I still have more than 150 pumpkins in my store worth about Sh30,000.

I have decided to expand my pumpkin venture by preparing and selling seeds. I had not thought of selling pumpkin seeds until people started asking for them. I have so far sold seeds worth Sh4,100.

Pumpkin seeds are expensive at agrovets. A 100g packet goes for an average of Sh250.

I was given an opportunity to showcase my pumpkins at the Nakuru Agricultural Society of Kenya (ASK) show in last month. My employer, RVIST, did not have pumpkins to exhibit, so it offered me the chance. It was a worthwhile experience.

MANY BENEFITS

I consider all earnings from pumpkins as profit. Save for labour during planting, I do not incur any other expenses on seeds and pesticides.
Pumpkins have many benefits since one consumes both the leaves and fruits. I use their leaves as vegetable and prepare mukimo from the fruits.

At RVIST, I usually slice pumpkins into pieces and sell to students at between Sh10 and Sh20, depending on the size.
At home and in the neighbourhood, I sell whole pumpkins at between Sh200 and Sh500 depending on size.

Over the years, I have come to learn that some people dislike pumpkins because they prepare them by boiling. I have different ways of preparing them. Whenever I boil, I mix them with dhania, peas, bananas and potatoes to make a delicacy.

I can prepare chapati with pumpkin meal in two ways. First, I mash them and mix with the dough or make chapati and prepare pumpkin soup as an accompaniment.

Pumpkin juice is also not only delicious but very nutritious. Over the weekend, I blend it for my family.

Most people believe that intercropping only works with maize and beans. But pumpkins are more beneficial. I only need one bag of beans per year at a cost of Sh4,000 yet I earn more than 10 times from pumpkins.

It pains me to see that people are yet to fully embrace pumpkin meals. Many associate them with children’s food, unaware of the benefits they would reap from eating pumpkins.

In future, I want to produce more pumpkins and invest in processing and packaging my own seeds.
– Rachel Kibui