The experience of buying two leaves of pumpkins and a handful of cowpeas leaves for Sh70 when she visited her sister in Nairobi seven years ago opened Ruth Andeso to the lucrative indigenous vegetables business in the country
‘’When I went back to Kapsabet in Nandi County where I own four acres piece of land, I decided to change from maize to indigenous vegetables farming. I now make at least Sh400, 000 per month from this business,’’ said Andeso
‘’I rotationally grow cowpeas, African nightshade (managu), Spider plant (saga) and pumpkin for its leaves in my four pieces of land an acre each and supply to Kisumu, Eldoret and Nairobi’’
Unlike other contemporary vegetables like kale, cabbage, tomatoes and onions which require a lot of resources and expertise to produce, she disclosed that indigenous crops are cost effective and requires less expertise to grow.
Most of indigenous vegetables grow naturally and have high resistance to most vegetable diseases and pests. I however go for improved varieties in the market in order to maximize yield and minimize risks,’’ she explained
In a good month, Andeso supply at least three types of vegetables in her markets. However, cowpeas and managu can be taken to market after 2-3 weeks as they mature faster.
She revealed that she harvests at least a tonne of each vegetables leaves per month, meaning that
A spot check on Kitchen Soko, an online vegetable selling platform in the country shows that a bunch of each of those vegetables weighing a quarter a kilo are currently going for Sh25. This means, a kilo of each of those vegetables go for at least 100
The above figures hence confirms Andeso’s claims that she makes up to Sh400,000 per month from her 4 tonnes yield of indigenous vegetables.
Even though she is earning handsomely from this trade, Andeso told Dhahabu Kenya that she still faces a myriad of challenges.
Cowpeas for instance require 500-800mm of rainfall per annum. Considering that her farms are in Rift valley, the crop gets two times amount of rainfall required, destroying leaves.
She explained that due to humid condition, her cowpeas are occasionally attacked by bacterial blight and bacterial pustule
The cowpea aphid is another major common pest that strikes especially during wet conditions.
The insect feeds on undersurface of young leaves, on young stem tissue and on pods of mature plants. Under severe infestation, there is premature defoliation and death of young seedlings.
She however manage the situation by growing resistant seed varieties like Secow 3B, Secow 4W and Secow 5T
She is planning to try other indigenous vegetables like amaranth and mrenda in future.
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