By Mangoa Mosota

The land was a wilderness swathed by shrubs and thickets. It remained largely unused, except for the herd of cattle that grazed and roamed the entire expanse of the field. That was slightly more than one year ago.

But currently, the 15-acre track of land is under commercial farming — hosting both livestock and crops. The owner, Boaz Awitti, cultivates more than 10 diverse crops on the farm. Mr Awitti also rears dairy cows, chicken and goats. But that is not all. He has four fishponds. His exemplifies the benefits of diversification.

Mr Awitti, 65, bought the land one and half years ago. Within this short period, he has turned its poor soils into a goldmine. The land produces food that is sold in the locality and beyond.

Last year, Awitti’s hard work paid off when he was declared the best farmer in Nyanza Province. With the recognition, his farm, Hobby Farm Ltd at Alego Kaluo Village, Siaya District, hosted last year’s national celebrations to mark the World Food Day.

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Looking at the yield, one would expect the soil on this farm is loam. However, it is largely clay with a mix of sand. As a result, Awitti has to use a lot of farmyard manure to ensure fertility of the soil is enhanced.

Awitti tends to his crop

When Awitti expressed interest in buying the farm, there was an outbreak of pessimists, saying his efforts and resources would amount to naught because the land was an infertile wasteland. But true to his character, Awitti sank deep into his pockets to acquire the land.

"I spent Sh100, 000 for each acre. And so far, I have spent Sh15 million on farm input, including installing an irrigation plant that will commence operations before the end of this month," says Awitti, also a former stockbroker. He raised the capital from his personal savings.

He has already drilled Sh1.8 million-borehole that will be used to irrigate the entire farm and water the animals on the farm.

Off-season farming

"We will pump the water to a tank, which will then flow to the farm by gravity," he says. Previously, Awitti pumped water from a nearby stream to sections of the farm using a small pump.

He says the usage of irrigation at his farm will ensure that he produces several crops during the off-season.

"There is likely to be a dry spell up to March, but through irrigation, my farm will not be adversely affected," he enthuses.

Since inception in 2009, Awitti has harvested over 100 sacks of maize, and tended to several traditional vegetables including osuga and managu.

Hobby Farm Ltd is also the home of modern banana farming, with 270 stools of the crop in trenches. The channels increase retention of water. The farm manager, Evans Ouma, says the crop will start maturing by April.

Napier grass, planted in contours provides sufficient fodder for the cows and checks against soil erosion. Next to the fishpond, he has planted arrowroots.

"We use slurry — a mixture of cow dung and water — to make the Napier grass mature faster and boost production of fodder," says Mr Ouma, adding that the slurry is spread on tubers, soon after the grass has been cut.

Awitti says the cabbage is the only crop he has planted and its yield turned out to be poor. After two attempts, he stopped planting the vegetable, as the soil would not support it.

The farm has six dairy cows under zero grazing. Two of them are lactating and at the moment produce 30 litres of milk per day.

Awitti displays his trophies when he was declared best farmer in Nyanza Province. Photo: James Keyi/Standard

Thanks to the greenhouse on the farm, Awitti harvests tomatoes every two months. There are also grafted mangoes, and pineapples on the farm. Just last week, 70kg of onions were harvested and a fortnight ago, two of the four fishpond produced 60kg of fish.

Weekly harvests

Awitti, whose wife and nine children live in Nairobi, says in April, they will harvest fish from all the ponds that have 9,400 fingerlings. "Thereafter, we will be harvesting fish every after four months."

The farm manager says they harvest 100-150kg of sukuma wiki weekly and sell the green vegetables to local schools.

Awitti has eight permanent and 10 casual workers on the farm. The businessman says he plans to turn his venture into a demonstration farm.

"I would like farmers in Siaya and Nyanza Province to draw from my experience on Hobby Farm Ltd that we can make the region self-sufficient in food production, and economically empower ourselves," he says.

During the World Food Day at Awitti’s farm in October, Agriculture Secretary Wilson Songa said field days provide the best environment for farmers to acquire skills on how to improve agricultural production.

Dr Songa said unlike agricultural shows, field days provide a more practical approach for farmers.

As a challenge, Awitti cites the heavy capital and time required to prop up farming on a land proven to be barren. He, however, hopes to recoup his investment in a few years.