How a Taita Taveta Farmer Makes Millions Growing PiliPili Hoho

Most individuals, especially young people in the countryside and semi-urban areas, do not consider farming to be a viable career option.
Samuele Magumba has always worked in agriculture. As a serious investor, he learnt to plough the land with all his might to enjoy the plenty it might bring to everyone who put in the effort.
Mr Magumba makes millions of shillings from pili hoho (capsicum) inside several Taveta Taveta farms that he runs and leases out, earning up to KES500,000 per acre in a single season.

He also plants cucumbers and tomatoes. It’s the hoho, a popular culinary flavouring in Kenya, that’s the real money-making machine, and he’s become a sought-after expert in the sector after years of cultivating the crop.

Mr Magumba, a native of western Kenya, grew up in Taita Taveta when his father moved there, and he has never left because of the abundant opportunities provided by the fertile Taveta soils.

His success might also be attributed to his father, who taught him how to farm at a young age, a talent he has never forgotten and is now passing on to his sons, who frequently accompany him to the farm.
Mr Magumba grows over five acres of capsicum and employs at least 27 people.
He continued, “I feed and lodge them, then pay them KES7,500 each month from the money I provide them at the end of the season.”

The producer has a ready market for his goods in the Mombasa Kongowea market. However, he must give up 10% of his total revenues to brokers who aid him in locating buyers.
“I divide my earnings with brokers, giving them 10% of total income per trip,” the farmer added, “and even with the reductions, the returns are still large.”
The farmer would originally pay KES30,000 for each journey to rent a vehicle to deliver his produce from Taveta to Mombasa. Mr Magumba, however, has lowered the cost of transit by acquiring his vehicle as a result of the company’s outstanding outcomes.

Mr Magumba affirms that farming is profitable and that the only weapon accessible to potential or present farmers is to guarantee that they get it right by performing all essential agricultural operations.

“With Kenya’s ever-increasing population, I would advise young people to choose to farm.” In the future, based on my analysis, I expect to see a scenario in which the export market suffers as the locally grown product is eaten domestically,” James Mwai, another successful capsicum farmer, adds.
“Farming should be seen as a business, not as something that only the poor undertake.” You may turn your farm into a thriving business.
Therefore, agriculture should be treated as a business. You may also make a good livelihood if you run your farm properly. So that when we venture in we’re both farmers and business owners.”