Farming earns more than teaching
Farming can really decide to earn you more money than teaching. In Kiserian, Kajiado County, when one approaches Corner Baridi, a pleasant air blows in from the plains beyond.
As implied by the name, the place is cool. Tens of bungalows and mansionetes, owned by Kenyans seeking peace and quiet from the fast-paced life of Nairobi, are scattered around the neighborhood.
But Corner Baridi is more than just a residential area; locals like Margaret Njenga are leading from the front in commercial farming.
When we got there, the 35-year-old farmer and her employees were hard at work on her onion farm, trimming the leaves off the plants to get bulbs for the market.
“This is the last day of harvesting,” says Margaret as she supervises her 27 workers having reduced the number from 40 the previous day. “I have done the harvesting in two days.”
In addition to onions, Margaret grows lucerne for her five dairy cows as well as capsicums, cabbages, spinach, collard greens, tomatoes, and beetroots on her four acres.
She also maintains decorative birds, hens, goats, and bunnies.
The young farmer left teaching to pursue mixed farming; he was a graduate of Kilimambogo’s St. Johns Teachers Training College. “After I had been a teacher for almost four years, in March 2020, Covid-19 happened. I moved to my parents’ house in Kiserian and began farming after the schools were closed. Margaret, who was teaching at the time and doing telephone farming, adds, “I quit teaching to focus on farming after realizing it’s well-paying.
Her favorite crop is onions because of their high yields. She farms them on one acre with irrigation. Each of the remaining crops occupies roughly a quarter of an acre.
She says, “I started growing onions on a half-acre, investing Sh. 200,000 in capital, which went toward preparing the farm, buying seeds, and installing drip lines.”
She then extended to a half-acre further, investing Sh. 270,000 to enhance the amount of drip lines for higher yields.
She notes that she pays Sh. 30,000 for a kilogram of seeds, making them one of the priciest inputs.
Margaret says that after transplanting, the crop needs 45 days in the nursery and 90 days in the field.
![Farming earns more than teaching,](https://dailybrief.co.ke/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/images-18.jpeg)
She claims that she now harvests up to 15 tons of onions, as opposed to the eight tonnes she received as a telephone farmer.
She used to sell the onions for Sh.30, thus she claims that her current pricing of Sh.70 for a kilogram of onions is among the finest.
“Growing onions on a small portion is the worst thing you can do.” It is preferable to invest Sh. 200,000 and cultivate one, two, or three acres. The income increases with the tonnage.
However, crop management has a big impact on what gets harvested.
“You can have three seasons in a year when you receive 15 tonnes every four to five months, which comes to over Sh.1 million,” the woman claims.
When traders from Nairobi’s Wakulima Market come to her farm, she sells them onions.
From the farm, they gather them. The farmer claims that the situation with tomatoes is the same.
She alternates her onions with three-month-maturing tomatoes or cabbages. “The benefit of mixed farming is that profit is guaranteed. Onions mature over a period of four months. While I wait, I make money all year round like a salaried person by selling tomatoes and cabbages,” she adds.
Margaret lowers her manufacturing costs by cultivating her own seedlings in trays within a greenhouse.
“My main crop is onions, but I grow collard greens and cabbages to earn money for my sustenance and to run the farm.”
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Farming Earns You More Than Teaching
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