Meru farmer: How I make huge profits from a single acre of tomatoes.

Tomato farm, Meru Kenya (Courtesy)

Today, Patrick Mwenda has no regrets about quitting his truck driver job. Last season, he cultivated tomatoes on half an acre, and thanks to the high prices at the time owing to the severe drought, he earned KES 520,000, money he had never seen in his life.

“I was baffled. ‘Is this my money or am I dreaming?’ I wondered… Within three months, when I would have made just KES 90,000, I found myself with a large sum of money. “I decided this is what I want to do for the rest of my life,” the 50-year-old father of four explained, adding that he has planted the crop on a similar plot and expects to make KES 300,000.

Going for greener pastures

Before changing the tune, Mr Mwendwa worked as a lorry driver between Mombasa and Kampala, Uganda, until March of this year.

During his 30 years in the profession, he transported items to clients in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, starting with a wage of KES 10,000 and eventually earning KES 30,000 a month.

Mr Mwenda resigned from his work and returned to his community to focus on farming after learning that the Kiirua Buuri irrigation project had finally materialized.

Mr Mwenda’s narrative is repeated in this community, where 2,500 irrigation project workers sift money from the dirt or collect it from fruit bushes.

Community project

It all began in 2008 when locals decided to create an irrigation project after becoming bored of depending on rain-fed agriculture.

They began donating cash to the project, though they encountered difficulties such as a lack of commitment among sceptics and were accused of misappropriation of funds by group executives, according to Mr Kinyua Ikabu, the chairman.

Source: Nation