Beautiful harvest for Machakos farmers after solar fence installation

By Alex Mutua: Tuesday, march, 28, 2023

             

               Fruits as a source of income to many phenomenons

Judy Mutuku harvests mangoes at her farm in Kyanzavi, Machakos County on February, 28, 2023. She is among farmers who have adopted fruit farming in the region bordering Ol Donyo Sabuk National Park. It took a solar powered fence installation powered by the county government of Machakos in partnership African Wildlife Foundation to keep the elephants, buffalo, cheetah, zebra as well as hippos away. Residents now have a peace of mind and the region is now one of the biggest producers of food and assorted tropical fruits. 

She is happy avocado farmer. Even before the onset of the avocado season, her avocado trees are producing fruits in abundance and the monetary return is more promising. Her home borders the National Park and for years, wild animals have been benefiting from her fruits too. Judy previously operated a vibrant shop in Nairobi’s downtown where she sold designer shoes and clothes before the agribusiness embraced her and opted to start an Avocado and pixie orchard. 

 

“Initially, this region was unsuitable for growing fruits because of the rampant invasion by wild animals. This has since changed. We are getting more value in growing fruits than in cultivating other subsistence crops like maize,” she told the News Media. She added that maintaining the orchard is cheap despite pest and disease challenge. Judy has a borehole, which sustains the fruits sitting on 13 acres through the dry spell. The irrigation enables her to regulate the flowering of the fruit trees. This is how she is guaranteed of a crop before the onset of the conventional season. “To run an orchard of this size requires constant attention. Three workers assist us to tend the orchard. We sell directly to exporters who make a beeline at the orchard and book fruits slightly before they are mature and piece goes for at least Sh35,” she said. 

 

The success story is duplicated across the entire region. In Thinka Village, for instance, emigrant organizations have redeemed fruit farms. They grow pixie mandarins, mangoes, modern beehives and bananas on an 11-acre plot. “We grew up assuming that this region was unsuitable for fruits and unfortunately we were wrong because the pixie we planted in 2020 produced their first harvest last year. We are expecting a huge harvest this season again,” they said. 

 

The region’s norm is that it’s a wash of environmental destruction. In the 1990s, for instance, droves of corrupt traders drove all the way from Nairobi to the region, where they would make a fortune in charcoal trade. They descended on mature tree fruits. Experts linked the endless deforestation to depressed rainfall experienced in the region in subsequent years, reduced crop production in the neighboring farmlands and increased elephant-human conflict. Judy said that persistent hard work rescued a fruit dying opportunity. ‘It reached a point where we would plan how to catch and slaughter those elephants from our farms, ‘the farmers said in unity. In one they appealed for the provision of guards and exact metrological prediction so as to prepare at peep of the season.

 

Despite bearing profit from avocado income there still more expenses on controlling avocado diseases like Anthrscnose,black streak and root rot due to unfavorable conditions. Therefore the farmer’s organization committee also called government to campaign afforestation to event future drought which can cause fruit wilting in many areas.

 

Furthermore, as I was communicating with farmers, they echoed the government for support of avocado seedlings and cutting off untrustworthy buyers. In addition, they urged fellow Kenyans to make use of bare lands by practicing agriculture which its profit is gained throughout the year.