Ahmed Odhach Mweu’s farm in Tala, Kangundo, Machakos County is an oasis of farm produce. The soft spoken farmer has transformed a land that sits at the heat of the arid and semi-arid sphere that characterizes much of the Eastern region into a hub of sukuma wiki, spinach, chillies, onions and tomatoes. In fact, when Bizna Agriculture meets him, we find him busy packaging his produce in bags ready for delivery to Nairobi residential markets.
His four-acre farm is glistered by mazie, spinach, kales, chillies, okra, mangoes, tomatoes, onions, beans, celery, peas and kunde, all intricately growing together, all ready to bring in profits. However, farming has not been a walk in the park for Mweu. In any case, it has taken hard-work, determination and door-to-door marketing to start raking in profits.
“I started farming in 2014,” begins Mr. Mweu, who is popularly known as the YouTube farmer among his customers. “I was inspired by the popular Shamba Shape Up radio and TV shows.” Back then, Mr. Mweu was a catering student in Rafiki, Nakuru County. After his interest in farming got picked by the Shamba Shape Up productions, he began to download episodes of the show and store in his laptop. “I also solicited for similar farming documentaries like Kilimo Biashara and began to download them,” he adds.
In early 2014, he returned to Machakos and ploughed his two acre piece of land. “I had made up my mind to venture into farming. I was convinced this is where I would strike riches; not baking or catering.” He began by planting 500 Sukuma Wiki and Spinach, and mish-mashed them with the traditional staple crops such as maize and beans,” he says.
YouTube Farming
To improve on his farming methods, Mr. Mweu turned to YouTube for a learning tool. “I didn’t have electric power at my farm. I would visit my family in Nairobi where I’d charge my laptop, and watch or download farming episodes on YouTube. I would then begin to implement the lessons I learned on my day-to-day farming. Within three months, I began to reap results. My production levels increased.” Since then, Mr. Mweu has not abandoned his YouTube learning tools. “YouTube has been my best farm hand!”
Each month, Mr. Mweu makes Sh. 45,000 profit from his produce. “I sell a sack of sukuma wiki at Sh. 1,500, chillies at Sh. 120 per kilo, a bag of mangoes at Sh. 850 and a crate of tomatoes at Sh. 4,500,” he says adding that a net of onions goes for Sh. 850 while a bag of kunde goes for Sh. 2,500.
Currently, Mr. Mweu delivers his produce on orders only to residential homes within Machakos and Nairobi counties. However, the sky is the limit for the YouTube farmer. Says he: “My plan is to venture out into big groceries and shopping malls, where demand for farm produce is high but supply is low.”
Mr. Mweu notes that theft of his farm machinery and supplements such as fertilizers has been a major challenge. “To stem this, I now account for anything that leaves my stores, how it is used and the gains it locks in, on a daily basis,” he says.
Mr. Mweu can be reached on 0729 847 211 or through his email address [email protected]