After futile job search, graduate finds luck in the farm

Patrick Kipkurui at his sukuma-wiki in his farm in Kiptere in Belgut constituency in Kericho.[PHOTOS: NIKKO TANUI/STANDARD]

When 24-year-old Patrick Kipkurui graduated from Egerton University in 2012 with a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, he envisioned a lucrative job in the corporate sector. He tarmacked for a while but the white-collar job was not forthcoming.

Instead of wallowing in self pity like other jobless graduates, the young man from Kiptere in Belgut Constituency, Kericho County decided to try green vegetable farming.

“I have always loved agriculture so settling in was smooth. I settled on sukuma wiki because it does not require a lot of work,” says Kipkirui who attended Kabianga High School.

Using his Sh5,000 savings, in 2013, he bought the vegetable seedlings and planted them on his father’s 0.2 acre farm. The plants grew within three months and he sold to his neighbours making Sh15,000.

After that first harvest, he decided to take a small break from farming and headed to Mombasa County to seek greener pastures. But after four months of tarmacking in the coastal city where he was being hosted by a friend, he hit the road back to the village and settled into farming.

“After attending numerous job interviews without success, I realised that my dream of landing formal employment was probably going to take longer and the wise and profitable thing to do in the meantime was to settle down to farming,” he says.

He came back home armed with his Sh50,000 savings, which he used to ploy his father’s land, prepare seedbed, buy the seedlings and fertiliser.

“The crops grew and I made a kill in my first harvest. You can never go wrong with vegetable when it comes to getting market that is what really helped me. People used to come in droves in my farm.”

He had made Sh240,000 from the sale of vegetables and used the proceeds to purchase his own 0.4 acre farm.

Being the second born in a family of eight siblings, he says the farm proceeds have enable him to assist his father, a retired public servant, to pay school fees his siblings who are in various levels of education from university to secondary schools.

Good as it may appear, there are thorns.

First, there is cut worms’ attack, market price fluctuations and the high cost of fertiliser which slashes his profits.

He calls on the National and County Government to consider distributing subsidised fertiliser to youths who have ventured into farming as an incentive to encourage more of them to participate in farming.

Kipkurui says four months after planting the kales, he begins harvesting after every two weeks into 90kg bags, which are sold each at Sh800-Sh1,000 in the local markets and to customers who ferry the vegetable to markets as far as Kisumu and Nakuru counties. This earns him between Sh80,000 Sh100,000.

The young farmer now employs seven people during the harvest that he pays Sh30 per bag of vegetable.

He also pays Sh200 to Sh300 to four farm assistants who weed the crop.

The farmer describes December and January as the best months for kale farmers when demand for vegetable is high.

The downside of it though is that the crop requires a lot of water and luckily for him, his farm is located next to Sibetet River.

Besides vegetable farming, Kipkurui is fast raising an indigenous chicken project. He has 22 chicks, 50 mature chicken besides the 23 birds he sold to locally during December 2014, holidays, which earned him Sh16,000.

He began the project mid last year with 40 chicken, which quickly multiplied.

Kipkurui says he prefers indigenous chicken rearing since they are not heavy feeders, hardly contract deadly diseases and are on high demand.

“I earn Sh1,400 in a week from selling eggs.”

The young man also owns two local breeds of cows, which he milks a total of ten litres a day. The milk sale nets him Sh240.

Kipkurui says he intends, through Artificial Insemination (AI) method, to upgrade the cattle in a bid to get more milk production.The young man also practices agro forestry and has 300 cypress and 1,000 eucalyptus species of trees.

Kipkurui’s mother Grace Cheruiyot, commends her son for settling down to farming instead of wasting away like other youth.

“Though I wish my son would have landed a white colour job, I am happy he is doing something commendable with his life through farming,” she adds.

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