Eric Wamanji
Though the sun has set in Nandi Hills some 30 minutes ago, the sky is still painted bubble-gum pink. Roseline Bitok takes a stroll through the lush vines of her passion fruit orchard in Lessos amid the soulful eve-songs of birds. Bitok occasionally stops to pluck a shrinking fruit, uproot a weed or prune a sucker doing all this at once as we chat.
“I’m expecting a bumper harvest,” she declares as she plucks a purple fruit. She then splits it to reveal a deep orange jelly that let some juice to drip. “Look, my garden yields grade one fruits!” she announces proudly.
For this elderly woman, passion fruit farming is her new found-love. She has some 0.6 acres under the crop and from the look of the healthy fruits dangling from the tendrilling vines; she is headed for a big yield. It is understandable why she affords a swagger in her walk.
“Through the proceeds of passion fruits, I bought a Fresian cow, I installed a biogas unit worth Sh. 70, 000, I bought iron sheets to replace my grass-thatched kitchen and I renovated my zero-grazing unit. These fruits have helped me to go to Nairobi -where I had never been before; it enabled me to open a bank account. Now I have an ATM card,” she enthuses.
Passion fruit farming is quickly becoming the jewel of Lessos, outshining traditional crops of maize and tea, as a premium source of income. The sheer thought of the fruit sparks ecstasy here -over 700 farmers have embraced the new crop with glee. The number is growing.
The farmers came together to form the Lessos Horticulture Growers Association. This way they can bargain collectively for better prices. In the past 20 months the famers have made sales worth Sh. 14 million in a goldmine-like enterprise that they admit could not be conceptualized a few years ago.
“The project began with a few farmers who middle-men mercilessly exploited. That is why SNV Netherlands Development Organization came in. We provided capacity-building in marketing, production and encouraged the farmers to form an association. Today they can happily reap from their labor,” says Martin Musamali, an economic advisor with SNV in the North Rift Region.
And as such, the fruits are transforming lives here like never before if the testimonies of farmers are any indicator. A few years ago, this was a ghost village. Derelict buildings dotted market places, and merchants were a bored lot. Youth had abandoned hope. Passion farming saved the area.
“At the peak I supplied 500 kg of the fruits,” Bitok says. A kilo of passion is currently trading at sh. 47. Bitok has over 300 plants in her garden. She develops her own nursery and grafting.
“When I heard about this crop I was excited. I was optimistic it would earn me so that I could take a flight for a holiday. All my life I had worked but there was hardly anything to save. Our farms were never as productive,” she explains.
She has not managed to take a flight yet, but she takes pride in the fact that she was able to travel to Nairobi, and that through her biogas unit, she has bid smoky cookery sessions goodbye.
Day two is a bright Monday morning as we make our way into Kapnyemis village. Villagers are tending their orchards. Faces drenched in sweat, hands soiled as they unrelentingly pursue the treasure trove of their earth. Some are weeding others are harvesting yet others are providing supportive structures to avoid destruction from wind.
Passion fruit farming has demonstrated to be prolific, reliable and productive. The cool climate of Lessos is conducive too for the crop. Passion fruit here is an esteemed, even venerated venture that is changing the agri-business landscape of the hills. The creaking village economy is now gaining a new lease of life.
However, the village roads are terrible. We get stuck in the mud thrice. In another place the bridge has been washed away so we abandon our car to trek. It’s when we reach Lenah Chesang’s home. She is busy supporting her plants as we arrive around midday.
“This is my office,” she declares with a huge smile. “I have worked in these gardens for the past two years. Today I’m empowered economically,” she declares.
Chesang’s story is like Bitok’s. She was an early adopter and she has made it big from the fruits. Now her crop is expanded to one acre. Chesang who also doubles up as an executive member of the Lessos Horticultural Association, says her efforts is to guarantee her children some ‘good’ education.
“This is the only way we can take our children to good schools,” she says. She bought a bull from her last proceeds. The rest of the money was ploughed back to the garden. Now she is crossing her finger as the demand for the passion fruit swells.
“Truly, this crop has changed our lives. We no-longer seek handouts from politicians. Recently our MP was shocked to learn that there was no villager who ran after him for money. He asked us what our secret was and we happily replied it’s the passion fruit.”
Success and inspirational cases here reel out like a golden strand interlacing the village. Take David Kemobi. He was one of the few men to buy the passion fruit idea. Today he bought an acre of land from the earnings. On the other hand, John Boit believes his farm is the finest in the village. It is neatly tended and the fruits cheerily dance to a breeze. He too bought an extra piece of land which he is developing. The day before, Boit supplied 200 kgs of passion fruits to the association – all from just 0.2 acres of land.
After harvesting, the fruits are then packed in sacks and transported to Uganda’s Owino Market, an equivalent of Kenya’s Gikombaa market in Nairobi. Then the fruits are sold to small scale traders who make juice out of it.
“Kampala is a heavy consumer of juice,’ Musamali offers. “ Therefore the demand for passion fruit is very high. They believe there is medicinal value in the passion juice. There is even a public service announcement on radio at the top the hour reminding people to take a glass of juice.”
Besides, Uganda is generally hot and cold beverages are welcome. That is why Lessos can hardly satisfy this market. There is a recruiting spree as the fruit promises good tidings for the villagers.
Musamali explains how the Lessos concept works. It is a classic in every sense of the word as the second generation of Lessos break with tradition to embrace new crops.
“We want to guarantee markets so that farmers can concentrate on production,” Chesang explains. ‘So far it has worked well. The buyer is supposed to deposit some money in the account as a security bond so that in event that he fails to remit money, the bond cushions the farmers.”
Still, the payment has been prompt. Money is transferred to accounts and the farmers get an alert on their mobile phones.
“Poverty,” says Bitok, “is a big enslaver of people. It clouds the mind, it weakens the spirit, and it incapacitates thinking and exposes one to exploitation. In short it dehumanizes. Interestingly, we all have weapons to smash the poverty chains,” she says philosophically.
The success of Lessos has been felt far and wide. Delegations on field tour are a common site nowadays. People come as far as Machakos, Mount Elgon and Bungoma to learn the secrets of the people of the hills. For every visit the delegations pay Shs. 3000.
So enterprising is this association that it has established a mega seedling nursery.
“We have a modern and bigger nursery.. It can hold up to 90 thousand seedlings. When we start to sell this, we are projecting some Sh. 3.6 million after every four months,’ Chesang explains.
Indeed, grafted passion fruit seedling is a hot cake here. Today we meet around 30 farmers in a van from Mosoriot who are making their third tour to the villages. They also make purchases of 1000 seedlings. Another order of 16, 000 seedlings has just been placed by farmers from Kakamega. This makes the secretariat a busy lot. One grafted seedling goes for Shs. 40.
“During our Value Chain Development workshop, the local Agricultural Officer raised the Lessos case. He was worried that the farmers were at a loss of what to do because they were being exploited by middle men. They could not negotiate collectively. They also lacked the technical expertise that passion farming demanded. We visited the area, diagnosed the problem and offered to build the capabilities of the farmers. Things changed for ever,” Musamali says.
Then the little known humble passion fruit came to the scene. At first, as is common with newly introduced concept, there was resistance. Don’t they say better the devil you know…but the old devil so known to them was sucking them further and sinking them to the abyss of penury. They took the gauntlet and started putting up the structure and land. Today, the idea has so snowballed beyond Lessos.
This is a silent horticultural revolution that is sweeping across this region. And soon, orchards will be replacing the tea bushes and maize plantation that had graced this land since modern agriculture was introduced.
Today at the buying center, Chesang has received some 3.7 tones of passion fruit. They have been packed and transported to Kampala. This is a bad season for Chesang. Normally she collects up to 20 tones in good days. But she knows where the problem is – the rain.
“It has been raining on and on. This is not good for passion. For the fruits to ripe, they need some warmth but the cold spells are not helping us. Rain is good for growth but not for ripening. There fore there are so many green fruits in the gardens that should be ready for market.”
Chesang is not worried. She knows too well that when sunshine comes to the hills, all the green fruits will turn to purple and thus an abundant harvest.
The youth are also gainfully employed. Some have organized themselves into groups where they run nursery projects. Some have been employed as clerks at the collection centre yet others get jobs as extension officers.
“SNV is facilitating the training of extension officers who will provide support service to members,” says Chesang. “I’m looking forward to the day when we will start our own processing units. If not, then, I think we are also ripe for the export market.”
In the peak season, Chesang records up to 20 tones. Weather dictates price it fluctuates like in the stock market such that during the hot days the price shoots and drops with coolness.
The collection center is also a busy place. While a tractor delivers the bulk of
the produce, others bring in with bikes, motorbikes on the head or strapped on the backs of donkeys.
And that is why, even as the sun sinks, Bitok is optimistic that through her passion fruits, she will board a plane to her long-desired holiday destination.