By Francis Ndungu

A Ugandan farmer who moved his watermelon farming to Kenya in 2014 for its stronger market found that the country’s soils were much poorer than those at home, giving him much lower yields and forcing him to work urgently on soil improvement.

Peter, who was born in Uganda, said the difference in soil fertility was stark.

“In my motherland the soil is not yet exhausted, but again the melon market is the key challenge,” he said. “Back home fertilizer and manure is not very crucial since the soil is very fertile and not exhausted. But in Kenya, manure is the key thing to use.”

Peter explained that he farms both in Uganda and in Kenya, selling all his fruits in Kenya where demand is stronger and prices are higher.

“I prefer selling my melon in Kenya where people consume it largely unlike home, they don’t buy at a good price. I also buy them in large quantity from home and transport them to Kenya where there is ready market especially in Nakuru top market,” he said.

He began by growing watermelons in Kitui county, where he leased 4 acres near a river for irrigation, and shifted to new land every three to five years.

“Sometimes I got leased the land for two consecutive years only to be denied to farm on the third year, the owner claiming he also needed to farm. Others became jealous because of how much I harvested from their farm and took away the land from me, leaving me frustrated,” he said.

He also grew melons in Uganda but did not sell them there. “Normally I grew watermelon from home and sold them in Kenya, but I still grew them in Kenya in small scale which cut down transport cost and helped me supply for my urgent customers whenever I had some crisis in supply from Uganda,” he said.

Peter settled in Nakuru, where he opened a grocery at the top market and employed five workers.

“My customers are always on my neck asking for melons every time so I had to maintain my consistency to avoid inconveniences,” he said.

He said the combination of climate and population in Nakuru created strong demand.

“Nakuru temperatures are always very high, making the melon to be on demand. However, the high population in the town boosted melon demand also,” he said.

Nakuru is the third most populated county after Nairobi and Kiambu, which Peter said supported his melon business.

During hot weather and holidays demand rose, while cool and rainy weather reduced sales. “During holidays the demand also went high as children and their parents came for more melons. I also got some orders during functions especially weddings, burials or meetings which boosted my business, selling 1 kg at Sh40,” he said.

Peter described his planting process in detail.

“I planted melon seeds directly to the farm where I normally prepared my land early to eradicate weeds and grasses which are the enemy of the melon plants because they caused competition of nutrients leading to reduced yields,” he said.

He preferred Sukari F1 seeds and planted in rows two meters wide with one-meter spacing between holes, sowing one seed per hole. “Planting more than one seed per hole resulted to small melons due to competition of nutrients. I once sowed the seeds slightly deep in the soil and they failed to germinate because they were small and ended up being dormant and rotting,” he said.

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He applied well-rotted organic manure as he sowed the seeds, mixing soil and manure properly to avoid scorching. “Organic manure increased the quality of watermelons, activated micro-organisms in the soil, reduced soil acidity and improved soil nutrients as well as drainage, thus reclaiming the soil,” he said.

But he admitted that in 2015, his first year in Kenya, he made mistakes.

“In 2015 my first year of planting melons in Kenya I messed up and planted three seeds per hole where I failed to add manure and in return I achieved small fruits and low production per area. That was out of knowledge, thinking that I would have harvested more because I planted more seeds per hole,” he said.

Peter said his melons normally took a week to germinate.

“After planting, I watered my crops and it took a week to germinate attaining 80 per cent germination. I did optimum watering since excessive water leads to rotting of the seeds thus fails germination,” he said.

He irrigated three times a week when there was no rain. “For aphids they were not so active especially when the moisture content was high. To get rid of them I did regular irrigation which broke their life cycle, which was orchestrated by high temperature that increased their population,” he said.

Peter stressed the need to keep weeds away.

“Weeds are a major threat to watermelon plants. I did weeding soon after their emergence to avoid competition of nutrients with my melons which hasted their growth and reduced yields. First month after the emergence of the plants, vigorous weeds control was done before melons started forming vines which required no disturbance after they formed,” he said.

He was careful not to damage the vines. “I made sure that my melons were handled with a lot of care during their growing season especially after vines establishment. I preferred using jembes and hoes before vines establishment but after vines formation I shifted to uprooting using hands to avoid destroying the vines. I normally discouraged using of the fork since it led to destruction of plant roots during weeding,” he said.

To avoid trampling vines during management, he left walking paths. “I normally planted my melons in rows of 2m wide. Between two rows I left a pathway to facilitate a way during field management without necessarily getting into contact with my melons,” he said.

Peter said pests were his greatest threat.

“Aphids, thrips and fruit flies were the major pests on my plantation. Fruit flies especially used to destroy my melons during fruiting stage by boring holes on the surfaces of the fruits making them rot and fall prematurely. Aphids sucked plant sap, turning the color of my plants, and in severe situations the plant died causing reduction of yields,” he said.

He developed strict routines. “I started controlling fruit flies two weeks after planting to help minimize their population towards fruiting stage which was sensitive. I also erected sticky traps and pheromone traps to get rid of thrips, fruit flies and white flies,” he said.

He relied on pesticides when traps were not enough. “I preferred cypermethrin pesticides because it worked perfectly and controlled a wide range of pests,” he said.

Termites also attacked his melons, boring into fruits. Peter said he found a solution from a friend. “I boiled blue gum leaves combined with neem tree leaves, cooled it and sprayed it on my melons at the rate of 1 litre in a 20-litre pump. The combination produced a very awful smell which termites disliked, thus suppressing them and chasing them from my plantation,” he said.

Peter applied calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) during flowering.

“During flowering stage, I carried out top dressing on my melons with CAN where the fertilizer was applied around the base of the plants 1 inch from the stem to avoid scorching. CAN facilitated faster growth development and increased flowering and fruiting,” he said.

He also sprayed foliar fertilizer rich in boron, zinc and calcium every two weeks to prevent flowers and fruits from aborting. At the same time he sprayed pesticides against fruit flies weekly.

“I divided my farm into portions of ¼ acre which I planted differently on different seasons, which aided in consistent supply of melons in the market. I started spraying foliar one month after planting my melons, aiming at high and quality production at an interval of two weeks,” he said.

Peter said his melons matured in two and a half to three months.

“I started noticing maturity indices on my melon after 2.5 to 3 months where the melon ground spot turned yellow, tendrils closest to the melon fruit dried up and when I tapped the fruit it produced a soft and hollow sound,” he said.

He harvested on the farm and at his grocery. “I harvested my melon, sold them on the farm and the remaining I transported to my grocery and sold them at Sh40 per kg. A quarter of my land out of four acres that I had, I harvested more than 4 tonnes which I sold at Sh40 per kg, one melon ranging from 5kg to 12kg,” he said.