When Paul Munyaga ventured into pumpkin farming, he didn’t know where to sell his produce. Four years down the line, the venture had turned more profitable than he ever imagined.
The farmer started the venture in 2017 on a two-acre farm in Gathage village, Gatundu South thanks to a friend who trained him on how to grow pumpkins.
“Former Ng’enda MCA Michael Kuria allowed me to work at his farm. This is where I learned about pumpkin farming and how it was lucrative,” he says.
He added that he obtained material from the friend who had brought them from Israel after an agricultural tour.
He noted that his first harvest earned him good cash which inspired him to continue with the venture as well as expand the land under cultivation.
“My first harvest fetched me more than Sh200,000. I couldn’t believe it. A broker who saw some of the pumpkins I was selling at Ngara market in Nairobi bought them all and sold them to some Chinese at Sh50 per kg. This was when I realized my venture was a cash cow,” he said.
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His farm, which produces between 15 and 20 tonnes of pumpkins, hosts around 600 pumpkin plants.
The farmer says a single pumpkin weighing between 10-15kgs goes for between Sh300 and Sh700.
In 2021, he pocketed Sh300,000 after selling 15 tonnes of pumpkins to a trader who was contracted by the United Nations to procure them for the African Union troops in Somalia.
“He agreed to buy the pumpkins at Sh20 per kg and I sold him all that I had harvested. This farming is highly profitable with less production cost. All I need on the farm is two lorries of manure that goes for only Sh35,000 per lorry and water,” he said.
“The prices for pumpkins weighing a kilogram range between Sh15 and Sh50 and the demand is high while production cost is minimal.
According to Munyaga, the benefits of growing pumpkins extend beyond low production costs as the market is readily available locally.
However, he says that the crop can be affected by pests leading to low production. Munyaga explains that the major one is a melon fly pest that destroys the pumpkins by piercing them during the early stages before they are ready.
“The pest is the major problem for any pumpkin farmer. The pests are destructive because they lower production but I control them by spraying the crops with organic pesticides,” he said.
The farmer who is already roasting and packaging pumpkin seeds and selling them to commuters plying the Kimbo-Kiganjo road plan to start value addition to his pumpkins.