Aston Lukoye
Cabbage traders at Kongowea market. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Cabbage farming has long been regarded as the least profitable crop in Kenya. Farmers blame unpredictably fluctuating prices, broker exploitation, and soaring production costs.
A Nyandarua farmer receives KES9 to KES21 per kilo of cabbage from Edwin Ochieng, a fresh cabbage exporter, depending on the season. In Somalia, he sells the cabbage for $0.75 per kg (KES82.65), making an eight-fold profit.
Local versus Export Market
“In Kenya, cabbages are plentiful and their demand is low, but they are scarce in some other countries,” he maintains.
“At times farmers urged me to buy from them so their cabbages wouldn’t rot in the fields,” he recalls.
“However, I occasionally have difficulty procuring the same quality and quantity of cabbages because most farmers plant and harvest at the same time, resulting in market shortages or surplus,” he adds.
Market Dynamics
Mr Ochieng, who has been in the cabbage export business for five years and sends 12,000 kilos of cabbages to Mogadishu every month, blames farmers for the lower pricing because they don’t understand the market keeps on changing. Read more https://www.operanewsapp.com/ke/en/share/detail?news_id=70f757f7c75b18ac61eff28155da4bc5&news_entry_id=s4909d7be220607en_ke&open_type=tanscoded&request_id=0749390d82b7c881e309c74e038dae69130f4ef8&from=publisher
Farmers’ Fault
“Rather of spacing out the growing seasons so that they don’t all harvest at the same time, all farmers are farming cabbages at the same time.” “Why would someone plant cabbages on all ten acres of land at the same time if he has ten acres of land when his neighbour has also planted on ten acres? He can divide the land and plant this season, then sow again the next season, and he’ll be able to sell throughout the year,” he explains.
Losses and Wastages
Monica Wawira, a cabbage farmer from Kinangop, Nyandarua, is one of the many people who has lost everything. Due to a lack of market or poor broker pricing, she alleges she has been forced to feed her cabbages to cattle on several occasions.
She planted cabbages on two acres hoping that she will earn KES800,000 by selling each piece for Sh20. She did, however, get less than KES 100,000.
“I spent approximately KES150,000 on planting materials and labour, and I never got back my money,” she says.
Timing
She recalls that the best time to harvest cabbages was between December and March when most parts of the country are dry. However, fortunes have now changed owing to similar scheduling by other farmers and the importation of veggies from Tanzania.
Food for Thought
Do you want to be a cabbage farmer someday?
Cabbage takes between 80 days to 100 days to mature. This makes it possible to plant twice a year and still make room for crop rotation between the two growing seasons.
You can plant cabbages from March to May, rotate with a different crop from June to August, and plant cabbages again from September to November.
After deducting your expenditures, cabbage growing might earn you KES 220,000 per acre in net profit.
For more information: https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/special-reports/cabbages-turn-some-into-paupers-but-a-plus-for-exporters-3573690
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