By MaryAnne Musilo

Victor Muli has successfully grown 30,000 onion seedlings in black cotton soil this season by using box farming to overcome waterlogging in his clay-based soil, preventing losses from root rot. 

“Onions need well-drained soils such as loamy or sandy loam soils. But I wanted to grow bulb onions here in Matuu, where we have black cotton soil. I visited many farms and box farming is the practice that caught my attention because I intended to use irrigation,” he said.

“Box farming is where, before planting, I dig a box-like hole and plant seedlings in each one. In case of rainfall, I have dug trenches to channel excess water away from the crop.”

The ‘box’ is a very shallow square that he digs in the bed, digging in manure to just that square, and then helping its drainage with a shallow trench between beds just an inch or so deeper than the squares themselves.

Victor, who is planting the high-yielding red onion variety Neptune F1 for the first time, found, from the start, they needed good drainage.

“In my research, I discovered that mixing manure with the topsoil improves soil structure. I mix the soil with well-decomposed manure, which improves aeration and reduces compaction, allowing the roots to grow well,” he said.

Black cotton soil water logs because it’s clay particles swell with water, blocking out air holes for air and water to move through and out. Victor used poultry manure, which is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium and magnesium, that’s are nutrients that also improve plant growth. This makes the soil aerated enough to shed off excess water into his trenches.

But he also needed regular water..”In my area, we rarely receive enough rainfall, and I wanted to venture into agribusiness. I invested Sh300,000 in a well, which took around three months to complete,” he said.

“After that, I bought pipes, a pump and a solar-powered system to pump water for irrigation. I have planted 30,000 onion seedlings and so far they are doing well. At one point the leaf tips started turning yellow, but after consulting other farmers, I learned it was due to the cold weather we are currently experiencing. I bought a foliar feed from an agrovet for Sh1,000 and sprayed the crop, and I can already see an improvement.”

He expects to begin harvesting the onions in about a month’s time.

Victor has also planted sukuma wiki and spinach on part of his farm.

“In my one-and-a-half acres, I have divided the land into different sections. This week I made my first vegetable sale, selling 80kg at Sh30 per kilogram. I am very excited because the buyer was simply my neighbour,” he said.

“Although farming comes with challenges and setbacks, I have not experienced many of them so far.”

Victor is also a poultry farmer and plans to venture into rabbit farming as part of an integrated farming system.

“I want to focus on organic farming. The chicken droppings are used as manure, the sukuma wiki and spinach can feed the birds, and the rabbit urine can be used as a biopesticide,” he said.