By MaryAnne Musilo and Antynet Ford

Farmers who have doubled plantain yields using improved seedlings are now earning less, as local markets are flooded and prices collapse

Plantain farming is splitting into two sharply different outcomes, where higher production no longer guarantees higher income and market access has become the main driver of earnings.

Across producing regions, farmers have shifted from traditional suckers to tissue culture seedlings and improved agronomy, raising yields, fruit size, and uniformity. However, the gains have come at the same time, creating localised oversupply that is pushing down farmgate prices.

In Nyamira, Wildah Raini represents the production success that is now facing market failure.

“I was previously using suckers from my farm and those of my friends because they were cheap and easy to get, but the harvest was not good and the plants were not healthy. I realized the problem was the planting material. When I switched to tissue culture seedlings and followed the right practices, the difference was clear,” she said.

With improved spacing, manure and fertiliser application, mulching, and pest and disease monitoring, her yields have risen significantly. On half an acre, she now harvests more than 15 bunches, with larger and more attractive fruit.

But prices have collapsed.

“Even though my production is good and well improved after the switch, there is no market for plantain here. While the fruits are bigger and more attractive, buyers will always offer a very small amount as low as Sh200 for a whole 8–10 bunches. This is very low for us,” she said.

The price gap widens beyond the farm.

“The worst bit is when they later get to other markets outside our region, they sell it at a double price. For example, one plantain in Nairobi costs Sh10 while if you are to sell a single piece here, it is Sh20 for three.”

Despite consistent supply, returns remain low.

“Market is the biggest problem, but me together with others around have learnt to produce plantain so well after shifting from the traditional methods.”

The same pattern of improved production is visible in Murang’a, but with a different outcome shaped by access to larger markets.

Moses Ngaruya began farming in 2017 with mixed banana varieties and a ready bulk buyer.

“Plantain is not easy to propagate and not many farmers are selling them. That is why at first I didn’t plant a lot of plantain. I planted different varieties at first. I had a ready market I was selling to Twiga foods but they later stopped buying, pushing me to sell direct to customers at sh30 per finger, that is the plantain and the others at sh30 per kilo,” he said.

The loss of a structured buyer forced a shift to direct selling and exposed differences in demand between varieties, with plantain attracting stronger interest. He reorganised production, dedicating one acre to plantain and sourcing tissue culture seedlings, which he propagates and sells at Sh500 each.

“I bought my seedlings from labs where I get the plant when it has just 3 leaves, which I later propagate,” he said.

With irrigation of about 20 litres per plant per week and improved management practices, he raised output, harvesting bunches of 50–60 kilos and reaching 60–70 tonnes a year at peak, later stabilising at 50–60 tonnes.

“Spacing, desuckering and desbudding is the secret. It helps the bunch and fingers have nutrients, hence becoming healthier,” he said.

However, even at scale, prices are constrained by the structure of bulk markets.

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Selling in Murang’a and Nairobi, he receives about Sh150 per kilo, where traders and retailers dominate and competition is high. Labour has also become a constraint.

“Employees not handling the pipes for irrigation has really cost me. I now decided to focus on hass avocado farming, and focus on plantain farming in the 1acre farm. But with proper training and passion this challenge can be curbed,” he said.

A third model is emerging in smaller, underserved markets, where low supply and direct selling allow farmers to capture higher prices.

In Meru, Edward Kivuti Mugo grows just 20 plantain plants along the edges of his strawberry farm and sells directly to consumers and small retailers.

“When planting I mix the topsoil and the base soil with ash, and this helps reduce pests and diseases,” he said.

By avoiding bulk buyers and maintaining limited supply, he sells at about Sh300 per kilo, nearly double the price in larger markets.

In a market where incomes are no longer driven by production alone, with improved seedlings and agronomy having raised yields country-wide, creating gluts that have depressed prices at the farm level, the farmers supplying bulk markets are selling by achieving volume, but face price ceilings, while those accessing direct or underserved markets are earning more from much smaller quantities.

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