Passion fruit, a climbing vine, is one of the most popular crops in Kenya, whose demand is significantly growing in both export and domestic markets, presenting an opportunity for farmers to earn.
Richard Ndung’u is among the farmers making sweet cash from this fruit. His farm in Thika hosts thousands of passion trees of various varieties.
Ndung’u’s venture into passion fruit farming followed a failed maize venture that almost made him to completely ditch farming.
“I had ventured into the normal farming of maize, whereby I did around 80 acres. Unfortunately, that did not work out so well because the rains failed and I found myself almost giving up the first time. But then I went back in the second time but after the third attempt I stepped back and felt like maybe I was not born a farmer,” he narrated.
The engineer by profession quit farming for about 7 years before finally deciding to venture into passion fruit farming, after visiting a vineyard in the Kamwangi area.
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The success of the farm convinced him that he could also succeed, thanks to one of the farmhands who linked him to a seedling supplier.
“We started with a very small block just to see how it works, and then it turned out it was like a miracle to us because the crop did so well,” he added.
Following a thorough research and farm visits, Ndung’u finally invested in commercial passion fruits farming. He started with 1,000 seedlings on an acre of farm.
His first harvest was, however, low as his focus was on letting the vine to grow, to be able to stretch out and spread.
After reaching the required size, Ndung’u then allowed the vines to start fruiting, harvesting 400 kilos per week. The yield kept on increasing with time, to a high of 6.5 tons as of 2021.
“As it extends it produces new suckers the new suckers comes with new fruit so with time we expect the yield to grow with the crop as the crop is also growing,” he said.
He explains that the success of passion fruit farming is based on various factors, including irrigation, and inputs. The farmer encourages the use of organic manure, preferably, normal manure from goats and cows.
He adds that when harvesting, farmers should wait for the fruits to drop, as hand picking can damage the veins as well as lead to spread of diseases.
For farmers intending to venture into passion fruit farming, Ndung’u advises them to understand the climatic needs of their regions. The fruits thrive in temperate climate areas such as the Central and the Rift Valley regions.
Additionally, farmers should conduct soil test and involve agronomists to guide them through the process.
https://youtu.be/bhuNMYJQwY8?si=psHZun3c27ukJSs6
