The covid 19 pandemic was a blessing in disguise for Joseph Muthama, a farmer in Kathonzweni, Makueni County, whose venture peaked during the period when many businesses closed.

Muthama is an orange farmer in Makueni County, one of the country’s leading growers of oranges.

His 15-acre farm in Ivinga Nzia village in Kathonzweni hosts 3,950 pixie trees and Minneola tangelo oranges, a cross between a tangerine and a grapefruit.

Muthama says the two fruits are more profitable than the ordinary orange varieties, and their demand is usually high.

With Makueni being one of the dry parts of the country, the farmer has installed an irrigation system that enables him to produce fruits all year round.

He has further learned the art of grafting, where he uses lemon rootstocks and pixie and minneola scions to produce a hardy plant.

”We plant the seedlings in 3×3 feet holes in which we place organic manure and keep them until they grow. The fruit trees take 4 years to mature and can last for upto 50 years,’’he told Seeds of Gold.

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Muthama sells a kilo of oranges at Sh150 when demand is high and Sh60 when the market is flooded.

He notes that in a week, he receives about 10 buyers who visit with pickup trucks to buy oranges, with a big chunk being referrals.

The farmer says 2019 was one of his best years in farming when he harvested 52.5 tonnes of oranges with each going at Sh80,000.

”I spend about Sh800,000 in a year to maintain the farm by spraying, irrigating, and pruning the trees, but the fruits bring in more, making it a good business,’’ he says.

He explains that he starts harvesting in December and do it for upto five months but the peak is usually from April to May.

While orange farming is said to be a lucrative venture, it has its own challenges among them diseases such as foot rot which causes orange trees to rot.