Gitonga Musa is the proprietor of Maendeleo farm, a strawberry farm in Kianjagi sub-location in Tharaka Nithi County.
The former agriculture teacher, who also offers free advice and training to farmers, was motivated into farming after attending an agricultural show in Nairobi’s Jamhuri Showground, where he learned about strawberry farming.
He shares some tips for successful strawberry farming.
Planting Materials
Musa plants propagated materials on soil mixed with well-decomposed manure in a ratio of 3:1. He also adds DAP fertiliser. He notes that he spent Sh2,000 on seedlings at the start.
“There are two types of planting materials: splits and runners, depending on availability. After planting, we continue watering. They require a lot of water. When there is no rain, we have to water them daily.
“After 3 months, they start flowering. During flowering, we remove the first flowers; we call it deflowering. This is to give plants time to establish the root system,” says Musa.
The farmer has planted his strawberries on structures elevated above the ground, using three-foot posts fitted with offcuts.
“I placed the cement bags on those offcuts because crawling animals and insects like strawberries. The elevation reduces attacks and also makes it convenient to handle them when they are around knee height,” he says noting that it’s tedious to tend to strawberries when planted on the ground.
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Cleanliness
According to him, planting strawberries in bags keeps them clean, especially during heavy downpours. He also ensures the plants are free from weeds and removes extra leaves as they grow to keep off some insects.
“Bags are convenient. These fruits require very high standards of cleanliness. When it rains, the flush water soils them if they are planted on the ground, but not so much when they are in the bags.”
“We nonetheless usually spread grass on the ground as a mulch to conserve water, keep the berries clean, and also to control the weeds,” he explains.
Flowering and disease control
“To boost flowering, we apply a substance to promote flowering, and that is the only chemical we use. Red spider mite is notorious on the fruits, it deforms the fruits, and buyers don’t like deformed fruits. ”
“The other pests are snails or slugs. The construction of raised beds helps in controlling the snails,” he says, adding that the snails or slugs don’t easily climb up. ”
He notes that strawberries are prone to diseases during rainy seasons. The diseases cause rotting of the fruit. Thrips, aphids, nematodes, mites, leaf blight, gray mould and anthracnose are some of the insects, pests and diseases that attack the crop.
Musa sells his produce at both wholesale and retail prices. A 250g punnet goes at a wholesale price of Sh80 and retails at Sh100. His main markets are groceries in Meru, Thika, and Ruiru.
