NYERI: When Solomon Maina lost his job in a well-paying firm in Nairobi seven years ago, he had no choice but to relocate his family to his rural home in Ihwa in Nyeri County.

“I was devastated. But I recovered after some time and started looking at the glass as half full. Though tough, rural life presented me with the opportunity to reflect and explore my hobbies such as reading. It was when I was reading an old magazine that I came across an article titled, ‘Broccoli was the king of vegetables’, I got interested,” Maina tells Smart Harvest.

He learnt that broccoli is a species of cabbage but it is considered superior because it is high in vitamin C and dietary fibre. It also contains multiple nutrients with potent anti-cancer properties. This article sparked his interest in broccoli farming and set him on a path to becoming a vegetable farmer.

THE JOURNEY

“That is how my love affair with broccoli started. I was so fascinated by its myriad benefits, I decided to give it a try,” he says with excitement.

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Six years down the line, Maina has rich variety of lettuce, cauliflower, tomatoes, spinach, celery and red cabbage on his farm.

“I only had a quarter acre of land to farm which is relatively small. So I wanted something that does not occupy a lot of space and broccoli it was,” Maina explains.

To roll out the project, the first step was to buy a packet of broccoli seeds at a local vet which cost Sh1,800. Each packet contains 2,500 of seeds and when mature, each broccoli is sold at a Sh70 to Sh100 depending on the size of the vegetable. At first, the journey was doted with thorns.

“It was a challenge growing a vegetable which few people know about. It was a case of trial and error, and it took me a while to get good results from the crop,” he recalls.

Maina has two varieties of broccoli on his farm— Heritage that takes three months to mature and Rock Broccoli, which takes two and a half months. So in three months, his crop was ready. Once he harvested his first crop, he approached various supermarkets but they were reluctant to stock his produce.

“Only one supermarket agreed to stock my broccoli, on condition that they would only pay me if the product was bought off the shelves,” Maina says.

Luckily, of the six broccoli he delivered, four were sold, while two got spoilt on the shelf.

“I was not going to give up. I did more market research and discovered that the vegetable was popular among foreigners. I started targeting high end hotels and malls where foreigners frequent. I approached several of such and they were receptive. Within no time, they were all calling to place orders. That is how I got my breakthrough,” Maina beams with joy as he narrates the journey to finding a secure market. Now he has an established client base and sometimes cannot meet their orders. While one head of cabbage is sold at Sh20 to Sh30, Maina sells one head of broccoli at Sh70 to Sh100. During the tourism peak seasons like the wildebeest migration at the Masai Mara, he delivers close to 1,000 to 1,500 broccoli to various hotels.

“In August, I make Sh100,000 to Sh150,000 profit from the sale of broccoli to various hotels and that is besides the money I make from supermarkets and individuals,” Maina reveals.

However during the off peak seasons, he relies on orders made by local supermarkets which constitute about a third of his business.

“In the past two years, more people have become health conscious and are aware of healthy options like broccoli and cauliflower, which has led to a considerable increase in demand for the vegetables,” Maina says.

HOW TO GROW IT

For broccoli to flourish, the farmer says it is crucial to ensure sufficient nutrients are applied to the soil.

“I practise organic farming therefore I do not apply any chemicals to the vegetables. I use chicken manure and cow urine on the soil for nutrients. I rely on rat traps to keep the rodents at bay,” the farmer says.

However, being a broccoli pioneer in the village has also posed unique challenges. One is the short shelf life of the vegetable, which at times leads to losses. He has learnt ways to jump over that hurdle.

“When planting broccoli, you must plant your vegetables in intervals to avoid wastage while the plant is at the farm. Therefore, I plant about 500 plants every season. This ensures you sell the crop depending on the demand,” Maina explains.

The second challenge is that the ‘head’ of broccoli is prone to attacks by birds and rodents and is also susceptible to diseases like damping off and black spots.

“Birds and rats target the broccoli because they have high nutritional value compared to normal cabbage. It is important to control the two pests to avoid losses,” the farmer explains.

Maina is quick to point out that the vegetable remains an elitist vegetable.

“Most people look at its small size and dismiss it because it doesn’t look like it can satisfy them. They fail to realise that it is packed with nutrients. They assume because it’s small it’s for the rich,” Maina says.

The interesting thing is that while thieves target maize and potato farms, they avoid his farm because they don’t know the value of broccoli.

“I wish more people would embrace broccolli farming so that I would expand my market. But the good thing is that this lack of information has worked to my advantage because my crops are not a target of petty thieves,” he says.