At the turn of the millennium John Wang’ombe graduated with the coveted Certified Public Accountant (CPA K) honors but instead of pursuing a successful career in Accounting, he fell in love with Agriculture and now he is on his way to become a Real Estate Magnet.

When John Wang’ombe is visiting Nairobi he often runs into his former classmates and he is not surprised when they ask him, “Why are you living like you never went to school John?”.

“That’s what they always ask me”, says Wang’ombe, who is building a shinning future for his three children with farming. After graduating from the prestigious Strathmore College, now University, John was selling like hot cake and he landed a job with a stock brokerage firm as an accountant. Although it was well paying (Ksh 45,000 a month), John quit after six years just when the firm was about to turn into an investment bank.

One of his classmates is now a finance manager; he owns a nice car and can afford to live in a rented bungalow but has no investments. Wang’ombe however, had a dream beyond a sleek car, imported clothes, trendy gadgets and cool memberships.

Simplicity is his rule of thumb. “If you eat chicken and I eat sukuma wiki, we both have a full stomach. If you wear a 5000 bob shirt and I wear a 100 bob shirt, they will both wear out”, farmer Wang’ombe quips as he adjusts the color of his faded shirt.

Wang’ombe quit his accountant job in 2006 and moved back to his backyard in Nyandarua County to start farming snow peas. The first two years were a disappointment but he never lost heart. He added dairy cows and rented more land to plant cabbages.

Wang’ombe farms 2.5 acres of land and he has made a fortune out of it. In his local Farmers’ cooperative, he is the top saver among farmers under 40 years of age. Wang’ombe shares the secret behind his saving culture: “My mother always advised me to save. ‘If you have ten thousand shillings, save it all so that when tomorrow you are called to do a fifty bob job you will go’, that’s what she always said and I listened to her”. Currently a share is worth Ksh200.

His big break came in 2009 when a kilogram of snow peas went up to Ksh150. Egypt and Zimbabwe, major exporters of snow peas, had problems with the export market and Kenya got the windfall. That year Wang’ombe made a whooping Ksh. 750,000 from the legume.

Out of his successes in farming, Wang’ombe wants to go into real estate business. He recently invested 1.2 million on a land and has already rented it out to a petroleum dealer who is running a petrol station. Using his savings, Wang’ombe has acquired 11 other plots on prime areas along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway. He is edging closer to his dream of entering the lucrative Real Estate business.

Just this last snow peas season, Wang’ombe acquired another piece of land after M-Farm linked him and 26 other farmers in the area to an export market.

“I was the first farmer in the region to get in touch with M-Farm. We had problems with brokers; they always dictated the prices and we needed help. Sometimes they would go as low as Ksh20/kg of snow peas,” explains Wang’ombe. “One time a farmer emptied his pickup full of snow peas into the river when a broker offered to pay him Ksh5/kg. That’s how frustrated we would become sometimes.”

Transparency in the value chain has been a major problem in Agriculture and farmers have suffered silently. The cry of the farmer is a link to better markets. M-Farm connects farmers to markets.

Selling together is a product M-Farm is offering smallholder farmers to enter into commercial farming and increase their incomes. Wang’ombe belongs to a group of 26 farmers who collect their snow peas and sell together. M-Farm has worked with these farmers to ensure they meet the quality standards, the quantity required and a constant supply is guaranteed. In return, farmers have a stable market for their produce and at a better price. This is a relief as the biggest headache to farmers is where to sell their produce and at good price. Buyers are happy too to get high quality and constant supply of the required quantity from these farmers.

Wang’ombe has no regrets wearing gumboots from January to December and dispels the notion in many people’s minds that farming is only for those who failed in school. He advises young people to wake up from the dreamland of instant success and put their hands on the plough.

He also has a note he would like to pass to anyone who cares to listen, “Employment is a confortable prison, it can feel warm, cozy and secure but it can only do so much. Just subtract your expenses from your salary and if you hear an instant bell, look for the closest exit door.”

Kenya has started greenhouse production of tomatoes, raising hopes that the popular vegetable will become available throughout the year at affordable prices.

In the new system developed by the Kenya Horticulture Development Programme (KHDP) and agricultural inputs suppliers Seminis Seeds and Osho Chemical Industries, a grower requires about 240 square metres of land and a greenhouse kit to get started.

The cheapest kit, comprising a 500 litre water tank, irrigation drip lines, plastic sheet, seeds and chemicals has been put at Ksh150,000 ($2,239) for those participating in the project. The plot of land can grow 1,000 plants.

The fourth demonstration site, for the Coast province, was launched last week at the Agricultural Training Centre in Mtwapa, Mombasa. Others are in Nairobi at the Horticultural Crops Development Authority compound near the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, at the Agricultural Training Centre, Kabiangi in Kericho, and at the Lake Basin Development Authority compound in Kisumu.

According to the KHDP, the greenhouse tomato project, one of the activities the programme is supporting to help increase the incomes of rural households, is borrowed from Israel, where the country has most of its agriculture under greenhouses due to scarcity of water and land. It is also widely practised in the United States.

If the concept is widely embraced, Kenya could start enjoying year-round supply of tomatoes, which currently get damaged during the wet seasons, pushing prices through the roof. According to Peter Randa, the marketing manager and project technical advisor, growing crops under greenhouses has many advantages, among them the ability to produce huge quantities on a small piece of land and continuous harvesting. The tomatoes have a shelf-life of 21 days compared with 14 for those grown in the open.

It takes a shorter period — two months — for greenhouse-produced tomatoes to mature, while it takes a minimum of three months with outdoor farming.

Due to controlled irrigation and temperatures, the crop sports a continuous output of flowers and fruits, all at different stages. One plant has a potential of up to 15 kg at first harvest, going up to 60 kg by the time it has completed its full cycle — recommended at one year.

The plant vines are supported inside the greenhouse with sticks and strings, growing up to 50 metres in height. If well looked after, the minimum plot of land under greenhouse production can yield up to 25,000 tonnes of tomatoes.

Tomatoes are generally highly susceptible to diseases requiring heavy application of pesticides but under the greenhouse growing techniques, which come with basic training on hygiene, most of common infections are easily kept at bay. Also kept at bay are insects and other pests known to invade plants as well as weeds.

Apart from huge savings on crop protection chemicals, which constitute a huge part of production costs, less labour is employed in a greenhouse, while exposure to chemical toxins associated with application is minimised or eliminated altogether. It is also good for the environment.

Planting materials for the greenhouse tomato production have been specially developed as high yielding, although they can grow outdoors as well. For this programme, the partners are recommending the Annaf1 hybrid tomato seed developed by Seminis East Africa.

On its part, Osho Chemicals is providing free chemicals to farmers in the initial stages of planting as well as technical advice on application, said marketing manager James Ndabi.

The introduction of greenhouse tomatoes in Kenya heralds what could be a major shift from open pollinated farming to hybrid high yielding methods, which if adopted in other sectors could lead to massive improvements in crop production, output, incomes and ultimately self-sufficiency in food production.

According to Mr Randa, there has been a marked uptake of improved planting materials in the country, a sign that farmers are keen to adopt new products and technology.

In Eldoret, KHDP reports, greenhouse production of tomatoes is coming along fast since this is where the technology was first introduced. The horticulture programme, funded by the United States Agency for International Development, estimates that in the next five years, most tomatoes grown in Kenya will be under greenhouses.

Mombasa is seen as having a huge potential for the technique since the Coast province imports more than 75 per cent of its food from upcountry and Tanzania.

What usually comes to mind when one talks about farming is a large tract of land.

However, did you know that you do not need a large piece of land to grow different crops and make good income?

Daniel Ruto, a farmer in Silibwet, Bomet County, has proved that with even half an acre, one can make as much money as someone who has over five acres. Ruto grows vegetables and tomatoes in greenhouses on his farm that has been christened Evergreen Garden because of its ability to produce different kinds of vegetables all-year round.

But what makes the farm stand out is that the farmer uses a small greenhouse measuring about 18 by 6 metres that he constructed himself last year after growing tomatoes in an open field for some time.

He says that he built the greenhouse himself, save for the polythene covers and the drip irrigation pipes.

“I bought the polythene covers for Sh42,000 from Kericho town and thereafter constructed the greenhouse myself.” He tells Seeds of Gold that constructing a greenhouse is not that hard. According to him, one does not need special wood to make a greenhouse. He constructed his with eucalyptus and wattle poles.

“Once you have the specifications from a professional greenhouse plan from agricultural extension officers, it is easy to construct a greenhouse. The parts made of wood can be sourced cheaply,” he says.

Inside the greenhouse, the farmer has planted 1,200 tomato plants that are about to mature. During the first season last year, he planted the same number of tomatoes and earned about Sh100,000. The second season gave him more cash.

“When I first begun, I used a watering can to water the tomatoes and the yields were not as good. I then acquired a drip irrigation system last season,” he says.

A single tomato plant earned him an average of Sh200 in six months and the small greenhouse gave him up to Sh240,000.

“I expect to earn at least a similar amount or more this season because I keep on improving my farming methods,” he says.

The innovative farmer treats the soil in the greenhouse using ash to allow him to plant tomatoes on the same plot repeatedly without the risk of transferring diseases.

He tells Seeds of Gold that he mixes soil with ash, charcoal powder and manure and then replants tomatoes on the same soil with good results.

However, Bomet County Director of Agriculture Johnstone Rono cautions against using the method because it is not scientifically proven.

However, he agrees that farms need to be sterilised before a new crop is planted in a greenhouse but only if it is necessary because other practises like crop rotation helps break the cycle of pests and diseases.

“If need be, one can steam or bake the soil to ensure that it is sterilised, but crop rotation is economical,” he says.

According to Rono, hygiene in the greenhouse also plays an important role to ensure that the facility is disease-free. Ruto does not only concentrate on the greenhouse, he also raises different seedlings that he sells to farmers at Sh5 each.

He grows cabbages, sukuma wiki (kale), tomatoes and beetroot seedlings. He has sunk two wells, which supply water to the farm. The water is pumped into a raised tank before flowing by gravity to the seedbeds and the greenhouse.

The proceeds from his farm have enabled Ruto to educate his children, the eldest completed high school last year.

He has also bought a motorcycle that he uses to ferry his produce to the market.