TWICE BEATEN, NEVER SHY: Young Farmer’s Tenacity, Perseverance and Patience to Learn Keeps Him Going Amidst Sabotage

When life throws lemons at you, you can duck them, keep asking where they came from or, you could make lemonade out of them. Larry Keya, a 27 year old farmer from Kisumu Ndogo estate in Eldoret, chose the latter.

Larry Keya responds to a client on Facebook 

Larry has been passionate about computers since he was a young boy and he wanted to study Computer Science at the university. Well, his Joint Admissions Board letter came with different news. His aggregate points were below the required for his dream course. He was admitted to study Agricultural Economics at Moi University.

The only way to study Computer Science while having been admitted for a different course was to study Agricultural Economics for a year, then go back to first year and start his Computer Science course. That meant wasting a whole year in campus. Larry decided to tough it out with the course that fate had handed him.

After completing his degree in Agricultural Economics, Larry promised himself to search for a job for only three months. If you have ever tarmacked, especially without tall relatives to push things for you, you know three months is an unrealistic ultimatum. He stuck to his deadline and dedicated three months in 2010 to applying for jobs, going for interviews and contacting third generation cousins and uncles for favours. You know the drill.

Three months down the line without a job, Larry decided to get into entrepreneurship. What better way to start than with what you know? He had gained interest in greenhouses while doing class projects in third year at the university. He tapped into that interest and decided to put up a green house on a hired piece of land in Eldoret in 2011.

Going through the learning curve

 A student plunged into the field of agriculture by the education system might not sound like your ideal agribusiness entrepreneur. Lack of passion might cast aspersions on his ability to weather tough times. Remember the 10 things to consider before getting into agribusiness I had written about? Larry got me thinking that perhaps life is not uni-faceted. You may lack passion on the onset but have a huge appetite for success and the patience to start small. This can yield passion later.

Larry had never farmed before. His only exposure to agriculture was through his university degree and the required attachments for the completion of the course. Yet, here he was, determined to be a successful greenhouse farmer.

Larry is a very patient farmer. He tells me that he has experimented every crop he has ever planted in a greenhouse.  And he has planted many a crop since 2011: eggplant, courgette, capsicum, tomatoes and cucumber.  “I try out each crop on a few rows first to learn the crop, it requirements, disease that attacks it, how to take care of it, harvesting, storage and market. After learning the crop on site and combining it with some research, I then make a decision to invest in it on large scale.”

The Keyas greenhouse

Currently, Larry has two greenhouses, 15 meters by 8 meters each under the Agri-Vijana loan from Youth Fund in Partnership with Amiran Kenya. He is very knowledgeable about the crops that he has in the two green houses: cucumbers and capsicums. During the interview, he very often gives me tips on cucumber farming: how to prune suckers, which variety is best and where to market. He has 500 plants of English cucumber that yield 125 kgs per week. He sells a kilogram at Ksh 80. He bought seedlings from Syngenta to ensure high quality produce.

Cucumber from the Keyas greenhouse

Larry started planting cucumber in 2012. He started with traditional cucumber. The yield was low and the market price was disappointing. He later learnt upon research that the price of English cucumber is double that of traditional cucumber in the market.

Market for a nouveau greenhouse farmer can be very challenging. At one point, Larry had to sell his produce on the roadside after a middle man insisted on buying a kg of courgette at Sh. 10. Larry advises that a new farmer should always work backwards; from the market to planting.

“The mistake that most new farmers do, is to plant a crop and wait for a market. The farmer gets frustrated when they need an urgent market for the ready produce. This vulnerability is what middle men cash in on. The farmer sells produce at a throw away price, while the middle man pockets the profit. Always identify a ready market before planting,” advises Larry.

The rough patch to success

Jackie and Larry Keya working in their greenhouse

It is always darkest before dawn. Larry and his wife Jackie Keya know this adage from experience. They are partners in the greenhouse business. They work together on the crops and market the produce together. They have seen the good, the bad and the ugly of agriculture.

Larry and his wife hired their first piece of land from a farmer in Eldoret. They put a greenhouse and planted tomatoes. The owner of the land later evicted them when he learnt what a profitable business greenhouse farming could be. The couple moved to another hired piece of land in Chep area, Eldoret. This deal seemed very fair since it came with greenhouses equivalent to 6, 15 by 8 greenhouses. There was adequate water and a working drip irrigation system.

The Keya’s toiled hard on the farm to rake in Ksh 5,000 a day. Unfortunately, they were forced to leave the land when the owner started to sabotage them by cutting off the water supply. Luckily, the Agri-Vijana loan that Larry had applied for was ready. This save the couple before they relocated to Nairobi.

Though the Keya’s had to start from zero with the Agri-Vijana Loan, they are back on their feet. Their first harvest cucumber was 125 kgs last week. This week they will harvest another 125 kgs. They are now making Sh. 10,000 from one green house. They are yet to document their weekly profit from the second greenhouse that has capsicum. 

Wendy Group of Farms: A Journalist’s Dream Come True

“Welcome to my office,” he said.

A wooden seat under a banana tree in Rutara Village, Kiambu County. This is his office. He humbly offers me the wooden seat and takes a three legged stool for the interview. Before I finish introducing myself, his phone rings. A client is asking for 200 day old chicks. They negotiate a quick delivery-two weeks at most. I shoot my first question of the interview. Before I’m done, another client calls requesting for a visit to the farm. Immediately, I learn that this branch of Wendy Farms is a hive of activity. I quickly engage my patience gear and sit tight.

My interviewee’s mastery of the Queen’s language captivated me. This farmer was different. He was eloquent in his English (not that other farmers are not. This one was outstanding). I was curious. Thank heavens for introductions. I quickly learn that he is a household name that previously graced our screens on K24 hosting the program Najivunia. You guessed it. It is Caleb Karuga. He is the proprietor of Wendy Farms – a group of farms in Kikuyu, Nyeri and Nanyuki.

Caleb Karuga feeding his chicken

Wendy Farms is a rising poultry empire specializing in indigenous chicken. Wendy Farms has strategically positioned itself in various levels of the indigenous chicken value chain. The company supplies day old chicks, eggs, chicken for meat and breeding. It also supplies chicken manure to other farmers. In these farms, everything has monetary value. 

KARI improved indigenous chicken

Wendy Farms specializes in KARI improved indigenous chicken breed. A breed that is duo purpose- good for meat and eggs. The breed is also disease resistant and matures in 6-9 months.

A dream nurtured from childhood

Caleb Karuga grew up in the fertile highlands of Othaya by the riverside. He grew up watching his grandmother toil away in the day and serve farm fresh food in the evening. This spurred his interest in agriculture. He even studied the subject in high school. However, in his childhood, Karuga viewed agriculture as a punishment. It was a chore he had to do before going to play or before doing his homework. He constantly wondered where the money making aspect of this ‘punishment’ was.

Exposure through his career

In search for the business in agriculture, Karuga was inclined towards agribusiness stories in his six years as a journalist. Every day he told stories of people making a lump sum income from agriculture and other seemingly mundane trades. This reassured the young entrepreneur that agriculture was the trade for him.

“Through Najivunia program that I hosted on K24, I got to interact with many people in the agricultural value chain. I got exposed to the business arm of agriculture. Not subsistence farming; serious agriculture that takes into account economies of scale to break even,” avers Karuga.

Once an entrepreneur always an entrepreneur

Caleb Karuga has always had knack for business. While pursuing a degree in IT at the university, he registered his first company that dealt in video production. That company landed him his lucrative journalism career. As a practicing journalist, Karuga ran a car hire business on the side, despite the demanding nature of his job. He later sold one of his cars from the car hire business to venture into agribusiness.

Three chicken: The birth of Wendy Farms Empire

The capital that Karuga got from his car hire business financed the leasing of a piece of land in Kikuyu and the construction of pig sheds on the farm. Having started with pig business in 2010, Karuga turned to poultry farming after the poultry business plummeted in 2011.

“I started with three indigenous chicken that I bought from Tala in Machakos County in 2011. I would drive 30 Kilometres from Nairobi every day to check on my three chicken. Two hens and a cock. It took five months for me to see the first egg. I was excited on this small achievement but I learnt key lesson: I would need a lot of patience to see results as a farmer,” recalls Karuga.

Strawberry beds on Wendy Farms

Karuga scaled up his three chicken to 1500 indigenous chicken on his one farm in Kikuyu and numerous more in his other farms in Nyeri and Nanyuki. A shy estimate of his monthly income from his flagship indigenous chicken business is about Ksh 600,000 per month. Coupled with profit from other investments such as strawberry and quail farming, Karuga makes roughly Ksh 800,000 in total.

Learning through experience

The aphorism that goes, experience is the best teacher, holds true in agriculture. Any successful business man in agriculture will quote that saying every so often. Karuga is no different. He has grown in the past four years to make a shy estimate of Ksh 800,000 per month as a farmer. However, his journey has not been a rosy one. He got to this point through painful lessons of the dos and don’ts of agribusiness.

After realising that pork business was not working for him, Karuga dived hard for poultry business. He invested Ksh 50,000 in 500 day old chicks only to lose 100 of them in the first month. He had to sell another 200 to mitigate losses.

He also recalls running into huge losses before discovering the KARI improved indigenous chicken breed. He was previously buying indigenous chicks from other farmers who were not vaccinating their chicken. Most farmers argue that indigenous chicken are hardy birds that are immune to disease. This misconception drove Karuga’s investment to the ground.

However, the 31 year old farmer took lessons from his losses and got wiser with each challenge. He says that passion and resilience has grown his business from three chicken to an empire. He hopes that Wendy Farms will be the brand of choice for indigenous chicken in East and Central Africa in the next five years.e has come

Before you say I do…… to Farming

 New Year 2014 greetings

It is mid-January and the hullabaloo of New Year greetings has died down. So has the depression of unmet New Year resolutions. The beauty of resolutions in my view, is that out of ten resolutions an average person will follow through with two or three. If you are disciplined enough you will be lucky to succeed in four or five. Nonetheless, I see resolution making as more of a ritual to uplift yourself and drive you to new limits. Making resolutions makes you prioritize on your goals. It gives you a sense of direction and that is what is important. Well, that is my long and winding way of saying Happy 2014, with the obvious omission of New Year. And perhaps telling you that it is okay to make resolutions on January 1^st and break plenty of them by January 10^th.

Sweet tales of agribusiness

Back to agribusiness, the focus of this blog, there are several young people getting lured into agriculture as a source of stable income. A substantial number of graduates are now finding agribusiness to be an exciting career choice. Agribusiness is currently a hot venture, no dispute.  Bloggers, myself included, have taken to the internet to make agriculture sound even sexier. The truth is that agribusiness has an attractive bottom line that is hard to resist.

To prove this, try sit with young people who are already making a killing from agriculture. Their gusto for the trade will make you want to quit your job and get your hands dirty too. These digital farmers will give you the figures they make and you will want to pack your bags and head back to the village to farm. However, you will make sure you have access to the internet so that you can keep up with the latest research and trends.

This happened to me last year as I interviewed at least 10 young farmers and attended a few conferences. I so badly wanted to forfeit my career and become a farmer. I could not resist the sweet tales and tidy returns that were coming from Mother Nature. I mean, how hard would it be to pick up a jembe to make three hundred thousand a month?

Luckily, I didn’t have the required money to invest and that held me back. I was so determined that without land nor prior experience I was ready to get started. I say I was lucky because I was not prepared for the dirty side of agriculture. I only had three months experience of writing and colouring other people’s success in agribusiness. That does not in any way make me an agribusiness pundit.

This situation got me thinking that perhaps before investing your hard earned cash in agribusiness, you should take a breather and ask yourself whether you are cut out for agriculture. Talk to someone who is in agribusiness. Ask them how they got there. Find out what time they get up and what time they get to sleep. Find out how many times they got disappointed by a failing crop or dying animals before hitting the jack pot. Find out what keeps them going despite their produce being a glut on the market, or a drug on the market.

10 things to consider

Here are ten things that you need to think about before ditching that job to get into agribusiness:

1.       Passion for agriculture

Before entertaining the thought of diving into agriculture, ask yourself if you have any interest whatsoever in agriculture? The returns might sound enticing but are you the kind of person who likes plants or animals and taking care of them? Have you previously done anything to do with agriculture? Do you even have a kitchen garden? If you hate the thought of dirt on your hands, then agribusiness is not for you.

2.       Identify your area of interest

After assuring yourself that indeed agriculture is one of your passions, then start analyzing what area to focus on. You cannot excel in agribusiness if you are a jack of all trades. Pick one area and focus on it. If chicken farming is your thing then pursue it entirely.

3.       Do your research

After clearly defining your area of interest, get information about it. You will require technical knowledge about that crop or livestock you have narrowed down to. You need to know the best practice(s) that will yield best results. Identify the opportunities available in your chosen field. Find out how you can strategically add value to what exists to gain an advantage over your competitors.

4.       Planning

Getting into agribusiness without a business plan is like shooting your foot and later wondering why you cannot walk. Have a clear business plan and assess the risks of your business. Agribusiness has money making in it. You therefore have to treat it like any other business. Dry run planning will reduce the possibility of your venture failing.

In addition, consider all the requirements necessary to start off your business. Do you have land? If you don’t, how do you intend to acquire one? How much will it cost? How far is the land from your nearest selling point? What will be your means of transport and how much does it cost?

5.       Start with the end in mind

Market is the end in business. The primary goal of getting into agribusiness is to make profit. Before you get into any form of agribusiness, find out if there is a market for your product and seek a thorough understanding of that market. This saves you the hassle of having a product and no market for it in the long run.

6.       Have some savings

To set up a business you need money. To get into agribusiness will also require you to invest generously before you start reaping anything. My advice is that you stay clear of loans if you can and invest your savings instead. Agribusiness is risky for a starter. You are safer investing your savings than investing money that you do not have, a.k.a loans.

7.       Do not invest all your life savings

Since you are taking a risk by investing in agribusiness, you should have some money put aside in case things do not work out as planned.

8.       Network

Get to know people. Make friends in the agribusiness sector both online and offline; this way you will have people to share your experience with and to learn from. Join farmer groups on Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus. Contribute to agricultural discussions online. 

Most importantly, cultivate healthy relationships with your suppliers and customers.

9.       Commitment

Agribusiness is just like any other business; it has its fair share of risks. In fact, I would rate it as a high risk business. You need a neat mix of tough skin and passion to survive. Numerous challenges will come your way and you have to be committed to the venture to get back on your feet every so often. Your entire crop might dry up due to a strange disease and there will be little that you can do. Your commitment to that business will drive you to continue despite such painful disappointments.

10.   Have options

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is insanity. This is one of my favourite aphorisms because it’s true! If after three years you realize that you have not made any profit in your agribusiness venture, then perhaps it’s time to pitch tent elsewhere. Keep an open mind and be ready to exit when the time comes.

Happy 2014 people! I wish you the best in your agribusiness venture.

Being a Millionare Only Requires a Successful Greenhouse!

 Using the word only to describe a greenhouse is a gross understatement. Green houses are like infants; you’ve got to watch them all the time. Just yesterday I was in a meeting with a lady who said that her green house is in ICU. Her tomato crop had been attacked by blossom-end rot. The crop was drying so fast that she was panicking. Huge losses were staring her in the face.

In greenhouse business, a host of diseases, pathogens and insects can make you uproot your entire crop if either attacks. Nonetheless, I find the word only a befitting qualifier for a greenhouse when you are looking at Ksh. 10 Million return on investment in two years. Hence, you only need a greenhouse to become a millionaire.

Does having 10 million in the bank make you a millionaire? Well, we can talk about who is a millionaire another day. Today we talk about Linda Atambitsa, a 32 year-old microbiologist whose quest for a satisfying career landed her on a path to millions.

Linda’s motivation to get into agribusiness

Ms. Linda Atambitsa in her greenhouse

Linda was until June 2013 a Quality Assurance Supervisor at a leading dairy processing company. However, she felt that her energy was not being fully utilized at the company and decided to quit a well-paying job to get on track with what she trained for at the university; medical microbiology.

“I got tired of writing reports and quit a job that most of my peers envied. I was earning over Ksh. 100,000 but I needed to get out. I trained to be a microbiologist and I want to practice it,” Linda explains.

Never quit a job unless you have a plan

Getting into a career in her area of expertise would take a bit of time and Linda needed a source of income as she sought the career of her dreams. She started plotting her exit plan from her job in December 2012.

Linda knew that she needed change in her career and she had to prepare for the ups and downs of that change. Before quitting her job she carefully analyzed investment ideas and finally settled for greenhouse farming. This was after interacting with John Maingi, the Director of Foods Africa Enterprise, whose story you can read here. Linda did a plant projection analysis on greenhouses and she loved the bottom line. In business, it is always about the profits.

 Greenhouses are capital intensive

A section of Linda's greenhouse

Despite the obvious profits from greenhouse farming, these paper houses are damn expensive to put up. Linda used up most of her savings to put up one green house on a quarter acre of land. She did not have land that was easily accessible to her. Farming is hands on and Linda knew that from the onset. She needed to lease land that she could easily access at any time. Fortunately, she found a piece of land in Ruiru. It cost her Ksh. 600,000 to lease land, put up the green house structure, get seedlings and fertilizer from Foods Africa Enterprises. This was a fair deal considering that Linda used cheap and easily material for the greenhouse.

You can reduce the cost of constructing a greenhouse using cheaper materials

Yellow and Red capsicums are Linda’s gold mine

Linda's yellow capsicums

A variety of high value crops can be grown in greenhouses: tomatoes, garlic, beetroot, cucumbers, chillies, eggplant and capsicums among others. Depending on the farmer’s focus and passion, each crop has its own pros and cons.

Linda found capsicums to be the best for her greenhouse project. They are ornamental vegetables that go for Kshs. 350 per kg in supermarkets and the export market is insatiable. Linda has a combination of yellow and red capsicums in her green house. She never has to worry about market glut or fluctuating market prices. She has a ready market thanks to her partnership with Foods Africa Enterprises. The company buys all her produce once it’s ready.

Agriculture demands patience 
 In April 2013, Linda’s green house project almost came to a halt. She had depleted her savings and she was about to give up. She was still in the construction stage of the green house. Luckily, she willed herself back on track and sought alternative ways to make a cheap green house. Today, her huge green house is the marvel of many.

Challenges are part of the business in commercial agriculture. When I met Linda for this interview, she was diagnosing a disease on her crop that was making leaves fold and flowers to fall off. The loss of a flower on a capsicum plant is the loss of a fruit. Linda tells me that she is lucky that her background in science helps her detect any changes on her crop. She is doubly lucky to have Foods Africa offer consultancy services for her farm. That is how her crop is still thriving despite the minor threats of diseases.

 Linda (right) consulting John Maingi of Foods Africa Enterprises

Linda’s advice

The sweetest moments in agribusiness are harvest time. Linda is currently pocketing an average of Ksh. 30,000 per week from her harvest. She planted her capsicum seedlings in August 2013 and it is already harvest time!

Linda however advises that young people getting into agribusiness should cultivate patience. Agribusiness is not an economic asprin for financial troubles. Just like any investment, it requires planning, adequate preparation and it is very risky.