Show me a fruit and will plant it in my orchard

Boazengo Orchard in Butere, Kakamega County, reminds one of the biblical Garden of Eden, where there were all kinds of fruits, and animals.
However, in Boazengo, there are no animals, only fruits.

Oranges, passion fruits, pineapples, bananas, lemons, guavas and pawpaws are some of the fruits farmer Boaz Ibrahim grows on the one-acre farm that is so neatly arranged.

The fruits are beautifully grown in rows, with the farm fenced off with trees to prevent people and some pests from accessing his crops.
On several rows, Ibrahim has planted purple passion fruits.

“I planted 30 vines about two years ago but only 20 have matured. This was my first fruit and the advantage is that you can harvest it continuously for five years once they mature in 18 months,” says Ibrahim, noting he bought the vines from an agricultural institution at Sh60 each.
Every week, Ibrahim harvests 4kg of the fruits from each vine that he sells a kilo at Sh100.

On the other rows, there are grafted mangoes, pineapples, guavas, grafted oranges and avocados.
“All the fruits mature in about 18 months and yield depends on the husbandry. They are now a year old,” says Ibrahim, who also has 100 pineapples and 50 guavas given to him by the county government to promote the fruit.

The farmer goes for improved varieties of the fruits. For avocados, he grows the Hass variety, which is early maturing and produces bigger fruits. He bought the seedlings at Sh150 each.

“One should be careful while buying seeds so that they do not purchase infected ones. One may not know that they bought poor seedling until after planting when they notice stunted growth or withering,” he says.

One should also watch out for nematodes in the soil, which affect growth. This can be treated by allowing the soil to dry for two weeks after digging the holes.

NATURAL SUNLIGHT

The farmer says natural sunlight helps to kill nematodes and pathogens causing fusariam wilt. “It is advisable to dig holes during the dry season. The top soil should then be mixed with dry and sterilised organic manure.

Then after two weeks, planting starts,” says Ibrahim, who has undergone training offered by US Agency for International Development, which made him diversify his fruit and vegetable business.

He says that it’s not advisable to plant during the rainy season because runoff water would bring diseases into the weak plants.

The farmer has intercropped the fruits with indigenous vegetables, onions, sukuma wiki (collard green) and cabbages to help utilise the land efficiently.

“For best results, one must plant the fruits at least a metre apart. The gap is big I, thus, decided to make use of it by growing the vegetables.”
Ibrahim relies on water from a nearby stream to irrigate the fruits and vegetables during dry seasons.

He started farming in 2005 by growing 500 cabbage plants – the sugar loaf variety.

However, he abandoned the crop because the cabbages were frequently attacked by caterpillars and other diseases.

“I burnt over Sh20,000 on the crops for two years hoping that things will improve but I did not succeed.” After a hiatus, he switched to indigenous vegetables in 2008, growing amaranthus and black night shade, among others.

“At first I did not make money from the vegetables because the market was small since many families were growing them. I now harvest 70kg from each variety of vegetables every three weeks, which I sell a bunch at Sh20,” says Ibrahim, who uses organic manure from sheep and poultry. For the pawpaws, he sells each at Sh50 each.

From one tree, a farmer can harvest between 50 and 80 pawpaw fruits. Early this year, Ibrahim made a profit of Sh50,ooo from the pawpaw fruits he sold to traders in the neighbouring Bungoma, Siaya and Vihiga counties.

However, his earnings from each of the fruits he harvests in a season stand at an average of between Sh10,000 and Sh20,000.
His main challenge is market, where sometimes the prices are too low.

Amos Amenya, a senior agronomist at the Lake Basin Development Authority in Kisumu County, says that any farmer who wants to set up an orchard must plan the farm well to allow good spacing between plants.

Fruits such as mangoes and guavas grow bigger, thus, may interfere with other fruits.

Amenya says pruning should be done regularly to ensure better growth. “Potassium or foliar fertiliser is necessary during the fruiting stage to help induce growth of fruits. You also need to do regular top-dressing to enable the crop grow healthy,” he says.