Emma Onyango owns two onion farms in Migori and Ngong, with each making her some good cash.
The farmer who doubles as a Human Resource consultant says she opted for horticultural crops after maize farming proved to be unrewarding.
“I planted maize on one acre and got slightly less than 10 bags of 90kgs. Maize is not rewarding and the returns are low. So I decided to venture into onions and watermelon farming,” she told The Star.
From her first harvest, Onyango says she harvested 8,000kgs from her Migori farm and sold at Sh150 per kilo. The Ngong farm produced another 10 tonnes (10,000kgs), selling at Sh100 per kilo.
“By the time I was selling my produce from the Ngong farm, a kilo of onions was priced between Sh30 to Sh40 in the local market, but I was able to find a good market price for my produce,” Onyango says.
Purity Mbae: Kenyan farmer milking cash from 300 hybrid goats
However, the farmer adopted one strategy that helped her improve her income.
“I was able to secure a good price by harvesting between the end of May and June when there was a shortage of onions in the market,” she adds.
While the venture has proved to be lucrative, it has a fair share of challenges. According to Onyango, heavy rains that cause flooding countrywide affect production.
In addition, inadequate access to pesticides and insecticides, which forces her to buy from Nairobi, also makes production expensive.
“Another challenge is the human resource; you have to get your labour from outside this area. People are not ready to work and do manual jobs. In the end, these challenges increase the cost of production,” she says.
High production cost as a result of expensive seeds is also a challenge. For instance, a kilo of onion seeds, which is only enough for one acre, sells between Sh46,000 to Sh48,000 depending on the variety.
She sells her produce to wholesale traders, retail markets, and estates thanks to her strong social media marketing.
Onyango advises anyone intending to venture into farming to invest in good farm inputs to reap more.