Cancer blow that led farmer to go organic

Organic farmer Karen Misoy. [Christopher Kipsang, Standard]

When Karen Misoy, a farmer from Uasin Gishu County lost her best friend to cancer four years ago, the pain of the loss spurred her to change her life. She embraced organic farming and stopped consuming food grown using chemicals in a bid to stay healthy. Ms Misoy says there is research that shows eating foods grown with too much pesticides can contribute to the development of cancer in humans.

“Looking at the prevalence rate of cancer in the country, and having lost my friend abroad where most of the food is GMO, I opted to do organic farming to stay healthy. I opted to sell the surplus even as I advocated for good and healthy eating among populations,” said Misoy.

To start off, Misoy, 37, a journalist, began with a kitchen garden growing herbs, fruits and vegetables for her own consumption. Slowly, when she perfected the art of gardening, she started growing red and yellow capsicum for commercial purposes.

To expand the business, after buying the land, she used about Sh500,000 as capital to start her capsicum farming.

This went into setting up the green houses, buying water tanks, irrigation system and seedlings. She also invested in solar panels to pump water for irrigation of her plants in the green house.

She admits that it has not been a walk in the park.

“The most challenging bit about horticultural farming is that it is capital intensive. But that should not deter one from beginning because the returns are rewarding. The other challenge I faced was lack of experience since greenhouse farming was a totally new thing for me. But I research a lot online and this has helped,” says Misoy.

Once the equipment was ready and in place, she prepared the land in readiness for planting. 

The preparation

“After doing the green houses, you should till the land thoroughly and ensure that it is soft enough before you mix the soil with well decomposed manure, either compost or animal manure,” advices Misoy.

Once the manure is well mixed, the soil can be made into raised beds which can accommodate two rows of seedlings spaced at 60cm. The spacing between plants should be at approximately 30 cm.

Misoy sources her manure from her poultry farm and also buys from her neighbours at Sh1,000 per tonne.

The next step involves laying of irrigation drips, after which the seeds are planted.

“I do direct seed planting and always avoid propagation and then transplanting of seedlings. Direct planting is easier and once the seeds are planted, they are allowed to grow rather than encounter the disturbance of transplanting. In between, there is so much work that includes weeding and pruning, which is done manually,” says Misoy.

During the three- month period in which the plants grow before getting to the harvesting season, Misoy says one has to regularly scout the green house to check on pests and diseases.

“The plants have to be kept well by stalking to ensure that they do not break. If everything goes well, the plants grow to more than one metre,” says Misoy.

To ensure that the plants produce a good harvest, Misoy top dresses her plants every three weeks using organic fertiliser, which she says is slightly expensive. The capsicum can be consistently harvested for four to six months. 

Organic farmer Karen Misoy harvested her red and yellow Capsicum at Kapseret farm ,Uasin Gishu County on March 30,2022.She opted for organic farming planting high yield horticulture crops . [Christopher Kipsang, Standard]

Misoy harvests her capsicum twice a week, harvesting at least 360kg per week. She sells yellow and red capsicum at Sh130 to Sh150 per kg on wholesale.

When selling at retail price to consumers, the capsicum goes for Sh200 or Sh250.

Harvesting

“I harvest an average of 180kg of capsicum in a single harvest and twice a week, I do about 360kg to 400kg. I sell the produce to various supermarkets and markets, which always book my produce,” says Misoy.

According to Misoy, despite her bumper harvest, she can only meet the demand of about 10 per cent of the market. She insists that the demand for green and red capsicum is very high, since only few farmers in Uasin Gishu grow it.

“I do bulk supplies at supermarkets and markets. I have never lacked a market, and I do not even meet the demand. I would advice other farmers to grow this to supplement their income.”

The challenges

Despite the success she has experienced, Misoy however says the farming has its own share of challenges.

“Controlling pests and diseases is still a challenge despite the greenhouse environment being controlled. The scorching sun is also a challenge as it sometimes affects the quality of the produce,” she explains.

“Water is also another challenge since the green house should be watered throughout the year, even during the rainy season. The challenge also comes when the wells are running dry during drought seasons like now.”

Capsicum farmers also face a problem on pricing of their produce, since the markets dictate the prices based on demand and supply.

“We do not get a chance to decide on the prices of our harvest. Sometimes, the prices are low considering the hard work we put in on the farm. I would advocate for farmers to come together and sell produce together based on prices that we have chosen,” advises Misoy.

To supplement her income, Misoy also grows courgettes, lettuce, broccoli, cucumber and tomatoes in green houses at Kiplombe and Kapseret in Uasin Gishu counties.

Three years of consistent farming with no chemicals, on her one eighth acre green house in Kapseret, Misoy says she has no regrets. The profits have been worth the hard work.

For those interested, she has a few take aways.

For organic farming of capsicum, the farm is first ploughed thoroughly until it is soft enough. The soil is then mixed with well decomposed compost /animal manure. The soil is then made into raised beds to accommodate rows in which seeds will be planted.

Irrigation drips are laid on the beds.

The seeds are planted directly on the bed rows. In other cases, farmers can opt to use propagated seedlings.

Weeding, stalking and pruning is done manually.

In three to four months, the capsicum can be ready for the first harvest.