How Meru youth discovered money grows on trees

The trend of young people running away from farms has been steady for years now, but one 27-year-old has opted to live as a farmer.

While many young people of both sexes make a beeline for cities and towns soon as they graduate to look for white collar jobs, Douglas Kirimi discovered money grows on trees.

Kirimi, who studied Economics and Finance at Kenyatta University, is among the few young people who have no qualms about rolling up their sleeves and making their hands dirty.

He said after watching his parents practice tea farming at their Gaturi home in South Imenti, he grew a passion for it, and decided to follow suit, albeit with a different crop.

“In high school, agriculture and mathematics were my favourite subjects. Even as I make good money from tree tomatoes, I am pursuing an ambition of becoming an agronomist. I want to be able to master value addition and empower the community to be food secure,” he said.

Kirimi has now settled down nicely at his tree tomato farm at Lucerne village in Buuri Sub County, Meru, and he says though it is physically challenging to do all the farm work, the rewards are worth every minute of it.

Kirimi said though he is young, his dream of attaining financial security is on course.

“The idea of a white-collar job did not appeal to me much, because from an early age one of my my best hang-outs was in the farm. I loved being in my parents’ tea farm, but I feel even better in my own farm, surrounded by all these delicious fruits,” said Kirimi.

He said the allure of quick and regular money drew him into the venture, “because I harvest every two weeks.”

Even though he has to plant new trees because they have a life-span of five years, this did not discourage him.

The soft-spoken Kirimi started out with the Giant Red oratia and Incra red varieties on his farm in the hilly area at the foot of Mt Kenya. Kirimi said as he was not completely sure whether his venture was good to thrive, he initially planted a small number of trees and scaled it up season after season.

Kirimi said for one to succeed there must be an adequate supply of water, yet vast areas of Buuri are semi-arid. “Tree tomatoes require a lot of water. A plant consumes an average of 40 litres fortnightly. I joined a community water project to ensure the plants never lacked it,” he said.

He had to learn from other farmers to understand the husbandry of the tomato trees, which he said took a year to reach maturity. Now he has 1,000 trees of the Giant Oratia and 300 trees of the Incra red varieties at his Buuri farm.

“The investment was worth it, despite the fact that there was a lot of work I had to do for trees to start to produce the fruits. One tree here yields between 20 to 30 fruits annually,” Kirimi told Smart Harvest when we visited his farm where we found him and his mother busy at work.

During their peak, some trees have more than 30 fruits. “A single fruit goes for Sh10 at local markets.

“But I sell mine in kilograms to big buyers from Nairobi. Some take them to re-sell to juice processors and others supply the Wakulima and other markets. The coronavirus has hit me hard, because I am currently selling a kilo at Sh70, down from Sh90,” Kirimi said.

Seeing how well his crops had done, he scaled up his venture by planting more trees.

After planting several hundred trees and seeing how well they had done, he wanted to plant more to maximise profits. “Seedlings were expensive, so at some point I started my own nursery. In addition to having a good source of seedlings whenever I find more space, I also sell to other farmers at Sh30 apiece,” said Kirimi.

From the word go, it was hard work for him to keep the aphids and other pests at bay.

To ensure his efforts paid off he also had to plant many trees, something that was difficult as he did not have a big portion of land.

He says he saved every penny and with time managed to have enough money to purchase two acres in Igoji East, South Imenti subcounty.

He dedicated a portion of the farm to passion fruit, and another to tree tomatoes.

“It is usually advisable not to put all your eggs in one basket is an old adage I practice!” he chuckled.

“I shuttle between my two farms, because I have to monitor the trees throughout. It is labour intensive. I employed casuals who I pay Sh300 per day when there is a lot of work to be done, including harvesting,” he said.

Kirimi said he never plants any other crop on the same patch the trees occupy.

“Because it is not good to inter-crop. Irish Potatoes thrive in this area but I cannot plant them with my tree tomatoes, because the potatoes are susceptible to many pests and would infect the fruit trees,” he revealed.

“Many farmers make the mistake of inter-cropping with vegetable, yet vegetables are likely to transmit aphids to tree-tomatoes.

Kirimi said in the past he found the sweet and juicy fruits had been plucked from some trees, so he used part of the income to put a barbed wire around the farms.

To beef the security of the crop even further, he placed two kennels in each half of the farm at Buuri, where two fierce canines stay guard.

“They religiously bark when they see a suspicious stranger near the fruits. Now there is no one who is foolish enough to steal the fruits. I am always ready to pick the fruits for anyone who fancies them,” he added.