By Henry Jami Mang’eni
Thomas Mramba has increased the earnings of his ancestral farm by Sh320000 by switching from habit to planned farming and replacing traditional maize and cowpeas with chilies and vegetables.
Studies have shown that smallholder farmers who had a clearly outlined and written mission or vision for their farm and engaged in highly strategic planning in the form of an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in their farming had a 60 per cent higher gross income. This is because planning provides a fixed destination farmers are looking to reach. This strict strategising must however be tempered with the ability to adapt and readjust or update your farming goals after receiving new and credible information.
When Mramba inherited five acres of farmland in Ganze from his father, the young farmer kept farming by habit, as his father had done decades before him. “We grew the usual crops you will see on every one of our neighbours’ farms; an acre of cowpeas which earned us Sh56,000, an acre of indigenous cassava earning Sh66,000, an acre of maize which gave us a paltry Sh20,000 annually as well as half an acre each of tomatoes and butternuts from which we collected a combined Sh32,000. We also had an acre to graze our two cows and five goats which accrued Sh80,000 every year,” he explained.
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Mramba would have been content to continue earning Sh20,000 from an acre of maize that barely germinated in the semi-arid region until he started consulting with his local agriculture officer and NGOs working with farmers in Ganze, who opened his eyes to the value of developing a business plan and the different drought-tolerant and short-term crops he could grow on his farm to increase his earnings.
‘’In local barazas officers from the local ministry of agriculture introduced and tutored farmers on how to develop a farm plan that can guide farmers on what to grow for the various seasons,” he said.
Today, before every growing season, he uses the Kenya Meteoroligacal Department’s early warning system, which provides a detailed weather forecast two months before the March-May long rains season and the October-December short rains. “Knowing the likely weather during every planting season helps me plan accordingly and reduces the likelihood of investing in buying expensive certified maize seeds that will not mature fully due to unexpected poor rains,” Thomas counseled.
Before every planting season, he goes through his records of the various crops and crop families he has grown on any plot of land in the past three years. He then comes up with a list of crops he could rotate in or grow for the first time which avoids the buildup of disease on his farm and keeps his soil fresh and healthy.
“I identify the viability of each new crop in my area and conduct a market study on which ones have the most earning potential. This is proceeded by drawing up a budget for each crop which is key to knowing how much money I’ll need to allocate and project what I expect to earn,” he explained.
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Last cropping season he brought in Sh540,000 growing a diverse array of crops his father would never have dreamed of. He had half an acre of drought-resistant chilies which earned him Sh70,000 selling to Equator Kenya an acre of quick-growing vegetables which he sold for Sh55,000 in local markets– an underserved market in the Coast he says he is looking to cash in more on and an acre of drought tolerant maize suited to the Kenyan Coast that earned him Sh90,000.
Thanks to the training he got from local start farmers on animal husbandry and markets today he keeps 5 cows, 10 goats, and 100 chickens on two acres of grazing land that earned him Sh125,000.