You don’t need swampy land to farm arrowroots

Christopher Wanyondu harvests arrowroots from his farm in Nyeri. The farmer grows the crop on one acre, which is not a swamp. PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI |

What you need to know:

  • The couple started by digging a water pan on the farm and directing water from the nearby stream into it.
  • The couple use dried tea leaves and grass to mulch the crops. The plant materials finally decompose adding manure in the soil.
  • The couple harvests 50kg of arrowroots every day which they sell at Sh100 each to traders in Nyeri, Karatina, Nanyuki and Mukurweini who pick from their farm.

The green leafy crops on the one acre farm in Mukurweini, Nyeri County puzzle many.

The arrowroots are grown on the land, which is not swampy as is the norm, but they are doing well.

Seeds of Gold team finds the owners of the farm, Christopher Wanyondu, a secondary school teacher and his wife Lucy Wangari, a veterinary officer, helping their two workers plant new crops.

“We have divided the farm into four different parts to ensure we harvest all-year round. As soon as we harvest, we plant ensuring that our customers have constant supply of the produce,” says Wanyondu, who went into farming two years ago.

Since they were new in agribusiness, the couple started with what they taught they knew best - sukuma wiki and tomatoes.

However, they realised that the crops needed a lot of care that include manure and pesticides. Selling their produce was also a challenge.

“We talked to agricultural experts at Wambugu Training Centre (WATC) in Nyeri and realised arrowroots farming would be the best option for us,” says Lucy.

“Unlike tomatoes and sukuma wiki that require frequent spraying, we learned that was not the case with arrowroots,” adds Wanyondu.
The experts also showed them a method that allows growing the crop on non-swampy land.

The couple started by digging a water pan on the farm and directing water from the nearby stream into it.

They, thereafter, dug trenches on the farm and flooded it. The arrowroot seedlings were then planted in 30cm deep hole filled with soil mixed manure at a ratio of 1:1

“The plants sprouted after about two weeks and we thereafter did mulching. It is a process that we have repeated ever since, guaranteeing us good harvest.”

MULCHING

According to Wanyondu, mulching helps to conserve and maintain moisture in the soil.

“After planting, one should monitor the farm to ensure there is enough water for the young plants. But after about two months, we normally release water from the pan once a week for about six to eight months when they become ready for harvest. We would be using a lot of water but mulching helps us a lot.”

The couple use dried tea leaves and grass to mulch the crops. The plant materials finally decompose adding manure in the soil.

John Wambugu, an agronomist at WATC, notes arrowroots require a lot of water to grow, the reason why they are cultivated in swampy places.

“But you can produce the tubers anywhere as long as you have a water pan and you mulch your land which helps to conserve moisture to end up with very healthy crops.” Mulching also helps to reduce compaction of the soil, regulate the soil temperature and prevent weeds from growing.

He advises farmers cultivating arrowroots in tea growing areas to use the cash crop’s leaves to mulch.

“Tea leaves decompose faster and have various minerals that include magnesium, phosphorous, potassium and sodium, which help to sweeten the arrowroots,” he advises, adding that use of compost manure results in healthy produce.

He warns farmers against using inorganic fertilisers which slow down the growth of the tubers.

The couple harvests 50kg of arrowroots every day which they sell at Sh100 each to traders in Nyeri, Karatina, Nanyuki and Mukurweini who pick from their farm.

They identify heavy rains as their biggest challenge as they cause the crops to absorb more water, affecting quality.