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Murang’a wine maker training farmers on commercial production of grapes

grapes muranga

A Murang’a County farmer who started commercial production of grapes last year is training prospective farmers to produce their own grapes in a move aimed at diversifying sources of income.

“At the moment, I am pursuing ways of sharing the acquired grape farming knowledge to others who would like to venture into the space. In this, I have developed a curriculum on how to establish and manage a vineyard and I am in the process of having the curriculum approved by the Ministry of Education under the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority (TVETA) program,” said Mwangi.

Mwangi says he is willing to take farmers through the entire lifecycle from learning about grapes, seedlings acquisition and hand-holding them until their vineyard is up and growing.

What prompted him to start training farmers is the fact that very few people have ventured into vineyards commercially in Kenya as 90 per cent of grapes consumed in the country are imported.

Thus, the knowledge and information to establish and successfully manage one has been an uphill task.

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“The Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization has not been of much help because their model farm is not in a good shape, however they have provided useful theoretical information”

“We had to research a lot from the few established vineyards, online articles and guesswork to reach the position we are in right now. Equally, different sources have given us differing information regarding the same enquiry and therefore we have had to try our best to strike a balance based on our climatic and weather conditions”

Mwangi is an ICT expert by profession but does grape farming as a hobby.

He was inspired by a visit to a commercial vineyard and winery in Morendat-Naivasha in 2015 to co-found Central Valley Vineyard with her partner and he is the Chief Executive Officer.

They conceptualized the idea after visiting a retired teacher who grew grapevines in half an acre farm and literally lived off it.

“I realized this is what I wanted to do,  establish a vineyard that will bear fruit for the next 60 years and make good wine out of it, both as a hobby and a commercial venture” said Mwangi.

“In an industry dominated by only imported grapes and wine from South Africa and Europe, we decided to dive deep into the art of establishing a vineyard for production of fresh grapes initially and eventually venture into making wine. Through that, Central Valley Vineyard was born”

He harvested approximately 150kg of grapes which he sold to various consumers who had already booked the fruits before maturity. A kilo fetched him between Sh600 and Sh700. He is expecting to harvest 0.5 tonnes of the fruits in April next year, three times more than the first harvest.

Mwangi can be reached on +254 722 972 162.

He harvested approximately 150kg of grapes which he sold to various consumers who had already booked the fruits before maturity. A kilo fetched him between Sh600 and Sh700. He is expecting to harvest 0.5 tonnes of the fruits in April next year, three times more than the first harvest.

He harvested approximately 150kg of grapes which he sold to various consumers who had already booked the fruits before maturity. A kilo fe

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