HOW PROFITABLE IS SUKUMA WIKI FARMING BUSINESS IN KENYA

1 acre of Sukuma wiki can yield between 8,000 – 24,000 kilos of leaf during a growth period of 9 months.Now suppose you sell a kilo of Sukuma-wiki at Ksh.30 at the farm gate you earn a gross income of Kenya shillings Ksh.240,000 to Ksh.720,000.

The above yield projections sound Too Good to be True?

They are not.

Just ask Angote.

The daily Nation ran his story of how he earns thousands of shillings from Kale farming.

Here below is his story.

The green leafy sukuma wiki (collard greens) plants stand about half a metre high and sway as the wind blows in Munango village, Vihiga County.

Christopher Angote, the owner of the farm, grows about 30,000 plants on his two acres. He spaces them 30cm from one crop to another and 60cm from one row to another.

A section of the farm hosts various traditional vegetables plants such as black nightshade (managu) and cowpeas (kunde).

“I have tasted the fruits of sukuma wiki and I can say only those who don’t know can despise it as a money-maker. I grow this crop that is widely consumed round-the-year,” says the former teacher, who has partitioned his farm into nine portions.

Angote, who used to teach biology and agriculture at Holy Cross Emalindi Girls Secondary School, is yet to transplant another 20,000 sukuma wiki seedlings of the Southern Georgia variety.

Vendors pick the vegetables packed in 70 and 90kg bags every Tuesdays and Thursdays for sale.

“I sell a sack at between Sh.2,000 and Sh.4,000, depending on the season, to traders who come to pick them from the farm for sale in Luanda, Ilungu, Chavakali, Mbale, Majengo and Kakamega markets.”

He says in a week, he collects between Sh.20,000 and Sh.36,000 from the about nine sacks he harvests.

“Sukuma wiki is profitable because one harvests for up to five months every week as long as you control pests and apply manure. The crop is easy to grow and manage,” offers Angote, who quit teaching to concentrate on farming.

“I start my planting by buying 1kg of seedlings for Sh.2,000. I then prepare the nursery bed by adding manure in the soil, which I do a month before buying the seeds and planting.”

The crop takes a month in the nursery after which he transplants them and top dresses with DAP fertiliser. They mature in another one month.

When you choose the right variety, you have already succeeded by 50%.

So how do you choose the right Kale variety?

First, you have to know the sukuma wiki varieties in Kenya.

And that is pretty easy because:

There are three popular varieties of Sukuma wiki/kale in Kenya.

1. The “A thousand-headed Sukuma wiki variety”

2. Collards Southern Georgia

3. Collards Mfalme F1.

I have grown ALL the three varieties and can state without blinking, “Collards southern Georgia is the best variety for Kenya.

The collards southern variety yields slightly less yield per acre compared to the “A Thousand Headed Variety” and the Mfalme F1 variety.

However, when you consider a combination of other factors of Collards Southern Georgia Sukuma Wiki, it trumps all the other kale varieties.

For example, Collards Southern Georgia variety produces pleasant dark green leaves. Its leaves are tough yet tender when cooked—which is an important quality when transporting it over long distances. The kale variety is also resistant to hot weather and it’s an all zone performer, unlike the others.

Should you maintain your farm well, you can harvest cash from this variety for over 1 year!

From that experience of growing the Collards Southern Georgia variety, I strongly recommend it to any prospective or even experienced farmer.

*Use the correct spacing to maximize yield Sukuma wiki/Kale per acre.*

This is where I have a problem with many academia.

They often recommend that you space Sukuma wiki at 60 cm X 60 cm.

The problem of adopting this spacing is that you get a plant population of 11,200 plants for 1 acre.

That plant population is too low to get high yields from Sukuma wiki.

Let me tell you why…

When you transplant Sukuma wiki at that spacing, as the growing season progresses, some plants die.

They may die due to pest attack, rotting, or injury as you do your farming operations.

When that happens you will end up having even wider spacing within the plants.

I know you are asking can I replant the spaces with new kale plants?

You could do it, but it’s not worth it.

The older plants tend to suppress the younger plants to the extent they won’t give any economic advantage.

On the other hand, if you adopt a spacing of 15 cm X 40 cm, you get a plant population of 59,000 plants.

The close spacing has several yields boosting advantages

1. You get more plants per acre than the spacing of 60 cmX60 cm.

2. Should any plants die during the growth period, you will still have an economical plant population left behind—you won’t have big spaces in-between plants. 

3. The close spacing helps the plants to form a thick canopy that suppresses weeds and prevents excessive evaporation thus increasing your yield threefold.

*Ensure that Organic matter in your Sukuma wiki farm is high to Increase Your Yield per acre of Sukuma wiki.*

Sukuma wiki loves well drained soil, rich in organic matter.

Proper drainage is absolutely vital because excessive water leads to:

*Yellowing of leaves

*Development of phosphorus deficiencies

    

*Thriving of the black rot disease that can exterminate a Sukuma wiki farm in days!

Besides increasing your yield per acre of Sukuma wiki, soil rich in high organic matter well-rotted farmyard manure, compost, and other plants vegetative matter, will make your kale tender, sweet when cooked, and resistant to how weather.

You will see the outcome in the way people will be rushing to place orders.

Once they taste your kale, they will never want to go anywhere else.

Sukuma wiki responds well to fertilizers and foliar feeds thus increase yields significantly.

However, the extended use of such fertilizers is detrimental to your kale farm.

Continuous use of fertilizers will make your kale bitter and highly perishable—especially when used in the dry weather.

If possible, use organic matter such as manure and compost in kale production while supplementing them with inorganic fertilizers.

Never make inorganic fertilizers the foundation of your kale production especially in the dry season as that is the recipe for producing bitter kale.

*Never Ever Overharvest Your Sukuma Wiki*

Never overharvest your sukuma wiki if you want your Sukuma wiki to Produce High yields consistently.

Let me explain:

During the dry season, kale is often in short supply. What is available is usually bitter and tough when cooked.For that reason, sukuma wiki buyers wander to and fro looking for good sources of sweet kale. These buyers are OFTEN ready to buy GOOD, SWEET Sukuma wiki at Top prices. Farmers, therefore, are tempted to overharvest their kale farm in a bid to make an extra coin. Never do that. Don’t do it even if you are offered money. If you do it, your earnings will be short-lived.

Why?

You will over-stress the plants. The plants are already overstressed due to the heat and drought. When you add overharvesting, the plant will be truly stressed to regenerate new growth faster. The recommended harvest rate is 3-5 leaves per plant starting with the bigger bottom leaves. If the plant exhibits luxurious growth, (during the rainy season) you can harvest more than 5 leaves. When it’s too dry you may have to harvest 3 leaves per plant. One last precaution about harvesting . Never harvest the young tender leaves that are near the top. Start with the mature lower leaves. If you harvest the young top leaves, you will be harvesting tomorrow’s harvest today while leaving today’s harvest to go to waste. *Don’t harvest the same portion daily otherwise you will get poor yields of Sukuma wiki.*

If possible, harvest the entire farm once. After doing that, irrigate it and let it stay for a whole week before you harvest again. The advantage of doing this is, “You allow the plants time to recover from the stress of harvest.” If the farm needs weeding, pest control, and other activities, you can do that after you have done the harvesting. Should you be unable to harvest the whole farm, divide it into blocks. Harvest each block each day of the week. Once you harvest a block, don’t harvest it again until one week is over.

*Irrigate your kale farm regularly. Sukuma wiki loves a Lot of water*

To maximize your Sukuma wiki yields, ensure that you irrigate your farm regularly. Without regular irrigation, the vegetables will grow slowly and will be bitter. The yields that I have mentioned at the beginning of this article will be a pipe dream. The most preferable time to irrigate is in the evening. Irrigating at this time is advantages as evaporation is lower, thus you save on water.

The best type of irrigation system for Kale is overhead irrigation. Though it uses a lot of water, overhead irrigation creates a micro-climate for kale during the hot weather. The good news about it is that Kale will respond in kind by growing luxuriously.

*Finally,*

Here is The Secret to Making a Good Return from Kale/sukuma wiki Farming…Truth be told. Depending on the weather, prices of agricultural commodities (including sukuma wiki) plummet, or steeply rise. In Kenya, the price of Sukuma wiki tends to drop in the rainy season, and rise in the dry season. The secret therefore, for profiting from Sukuma wiki is targeting dry weather when it is in short supply.

There are times when the price of kale UNBELIEVABLY skyrockets to Ksh.2,000 shillings or more for a 50 kilo bag. Can you imagine what sukuma wiki farmers earn during those times? 

You have the answer!

WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A MAN IN A SOCIETY

 

I can recall the first time that I asked the question, “What does it mean to be a man?” to a group of young men.In this particular situation, the young men were sharing their feelings about an exercise that each of them had just experienced, focused on the sexism, and patriarchy that women often face in society.ile majibu nilipata ilikua ya kushangaza pia kufurahisha.

Many of the young men shared that they immediately wanted to cry after the experience. Upon asking them why it seemed that they were emotionless during the exercise, they shared that they didn’t allow themselves to exhibit such emotions because they needed to be strong for the other men in the group. The phrasing of “needing to man up” was used over 50 times, so much that I was not only exhausted, but perplexed.

It wasn’t the first time I had heard the term “kua mwanaumme, being used to describe the need that young men have to hide their emotions. I had been told to “man-up” by a family member after I said I didn’t want to play football (or any sport really). I was also told that I needed to “man-up” after I found out my best friend died in the 9th grade,again during my initiation ceremony that involved circumcision i couldn't endure the pain but every time you wil hear hey hapa lazima ukae mwanaumme.

I hear the phrase “man-up” used so frequently, I often wonder in what context the word “man” is being used and what it really says about how society views masculinity as a whole.

For years, I have grappled with this idea of maleness and masculinity from both a social and political lens. Society rarely provides space for men to be whole. Consider the “idea” of what it means to be a man in our society. When we define maleness, or masculinity, we are quick to assume that to be a man means being aggressive, loud, violent, and dominant. Even more, maleness and masculinity is often defined by one’s gender, their gender presentation, and how they perform maleness and masculinity. Something that I have always found to be disturbing is how much of maleness and masculinity depends on one’s genitals and what cis-gender men choose to do with said parts.

A common notion that is often not discussed when examining men and masculinity is how much emphasis is put on the performative aspect of being a man.

Very rarely are cis-men given space to interrogate and create a their own definition of masculinity that includes being emotionally/mentally sound and whole. Men often have to look outside of themselves for their first definition of what it means to be a man, so much so that it often leaves men in a dark and sad state of existence.

From sports to the playground, masculinity is coded with phrases like “boys will be boys” or my personal favorite, “that’s just how boys/men are.” The emotionally damaging “masculinization” of young men starts even before young men have a keen sense of self; often before they even have the developmental capacity to fully understand the binary (gender vs. performance of gender.) These gender roles and expectations of gender performance are often given out like candy, without a child being able to fully comprehend what they’re ingesting.

This notion that to be a man means being angry or emotionally unavailable has always been something that intrigued me. As both a queer and Black man, I often question where these ideas began and why people continue to hold them in such high regard. As I continue to battle with the true definition of what it means to be a “man” and how heteronormative (and homonegative) the definition continues to be, I recognize that the toxic notion of masculinity is forced on young cis-men before they even know how to properly tie their shoes.

I can remember hearing conversations between my mother and my uncles about how fearful they were for me because I didn’t exhibit the behaviors of masculinity. I was emotionally available, somewhat shy, and enjoyed connecting with people on a deeper level. Somehow, that was seen as effeminate and the men in my family worked tirelessly to “make me harder,” common rhetoric used in the Black cis-male community.

It behooves me to say that the root definition of what it means to be a man or to perform masculinity here in America continues to be grounded in oppression, marginalization, and white supremacy. As I have done my own work to unlearn the toxic nature of masculinity, I now comprehend that the harm being done to many young cisgender men, specifically young white cisgender men, is often connected to noxious ideals of power, positionality, and the want/need for cisgender men to be seen as a dominant gender. I am even more certain of this with the reports of gun violence transfixing us here in the U.S.

In challenging masculinity as a harmful and sometimes deadly social construction, we have to acknowledge that being viewed in society as masculine is reputed as a gift, while being viewed as feminine is a curse. Even with all of the negative ideologies of maleness and masculinity that cisgender men (and society) consume, being seen as a “man” means being free from critique and the need to unlearn elements of sexism and patriarchy, even in moments when you are the reason for someone else’s struggle and pain.

Films like The Mask You Live In and Tough Guise 2 examine the concept of performative masculinity and shine light on the lack of accountability that comes with maleness. They examine how young men are wired to “wage war” from a young age and encouraged to lean into concepts related to social dominance hierarchies. Cis-men, specifically cis-heterosexual men, are encouraged to take up any and all space, without questioning whether they are fully deserving of it.

A struggle that I have had as a queer cis-man of color is comprehending what maleness and masculinity means for me. I have never presented myself as a masculine. My voice is soft, I have always been called “pretty,” and I am highly emotional — all things associated with femininity.

Though I have every right to be an aggressively violent person because of the things I have experienced as a queer Black man, I have chosen to unlearn maleness and masculinity as something ferocious. In my quest to redefine maleness and masculinity, I have started to understand that being a man means doing a great deal of self work.

My definition of “being a man” challenges me to speak openly and honestly about my thoughts and feelings. It’s relearning how to speak from a truly genuine and unapologetic place. It’s seeking out regular psychological therapy — something that many cis-men, specifically cis-Black men are taught not to do. But most important, it’s knowing how to be honest with myself about about where my pain and trauma begin and working through it to heal.

Before challenging others to learn what it means to “man-up,” I would challenge everyone to unlearn what it means to be a man in our society and find a definition that allows cis-men to be happy, whole people. We must teach men not to see maleness and masculinity as superior to femininity, but dangerous without it. We must engage men to stop seeing their maleness and masculinity as being something that they should fear, while encouraging them to embrace their full authentic truth.

It is only then that we can truly create a healthier definition of what it truly means to be a man.

nyakundis.blogspot.com

TOUGH DAYS AHEAD FOR KENYAN TAX PAYERS

 

There is a lot of exorbitance at the helm of power. Our taxation base is thin, and for an understandable reason, but we have to acknowledge the wastage up there.

The government cannot be inducing taxes and squelching revenue to the last cent on one hand; and overlooking the expenditure crisis. Corruption And mismanagement are eating away every parastatal. Our anti-graft authorities are frozen in midnight slumber and our public prosecutor is dropping cases faster than a blitzkrieg bombardment. Taxes are grim. Nobody loves taxes. Increasing them has been the center stage of fallen regimes and dismantled orders. 

        But what the citizenry hates most than taxes, is misappropriation. It is a sharp betrayal. The basic man is already struggling to make ends meet. The government is taking more and more everyday. It is the price of having a government, he concedes. But how does he feel when those tasked with managing his taxes are prioritizing their luxury and even the little set aside for one or two services, is not spared from theft.

          I did not,and still don't, expect this government to be more prudent than the preceding ones. But if there is an iota of commitment to improve lives, just a rung higher, the government has to stop over-focusing on how to attain revenue but how to frugally manage and account for the little they are getting. 

The greatest problem we have is not lack of revenue. It is not even bloated debt. It is wastage. Wastage.

 Wastage. And Greed.

nyakundi.blogspot.com

billionaire mindset

 

"EVERY PROBLEM, hindrance or obstacle gives you a new lesson. Only then will you learn the hard way."

~Industrialist Narendra Raval on growing from a small trader to tycoon 

Billionaire steel industrialist and philanthropist Narendra Raval, the executive chairman of Devki Group, has added a multi-billion shilling steel smelting plant to his business empire.

About Narendra Raval

Narendra Raval, is a Kenyan from Indian Gujarati origin industrialist, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He serves as the Executive Chairman of the Devki Group of Companies, a conglomerate that manufactures steel, aluminum and cement. Raval, who is popularly referred to as 'Guru', is one of the richest man in Africa (according to Forbes). He has investments in steel, aluminum and cement. Born in India 59 years ago, Raval served as an assistant priest at a Swaminarayan temple before relocating to Kenya as a teenager to serve in another temple. He was however expelled from the sect when he married to a Kenyan woman, and decided to take up a job in a small steel factory where he learnt steelmaking.

In 1986, pulling together his savings, he started a small steel processing and trading outfit with his wife in downtown Nairobi. That small operation has grown into Devki Group, the largest manufacturer of steel products in East and Central Africa. The $500 million (Sh6 billion in revenues) company manufactures cement, reinforcement bars, and barbed wire. The group's cement division, National Cement Company, manufactures Kenya's bestselling Simba cement.

A devoted philanthropist, Raval supports more than 300 children in different levels of schooling and a string of orphanages. In this interview, the 59-year-old Guru speaks about the new plant commissioned on Friday, 18 November 2022 by President William Ruto and Kenya’s industrialisation dream going forward.

Here are his tips on how to grow from a small to a big entrepreneur.

Excerpts... 

QUESTION: "Tell us about the journey to putting up the new steel factory in Kwale..." 

It has taken four years to build the plant. It is the first in East and Central Africa of this kind and size. It is going to produce steel from iron ore.

The capacity at the moment is 500,000 metric tone's of steel, which can in future be improved to one million metric tones. The plant is situated on about 300 acres in Kwale. It is going to employ 2,500 people directly. Presently, there are 1,000 workers from the local area. In two months’ time, we will go to 2,500 workers. We are already in production. The President opened it on Friday, 18 November 2022.

QUESTION: "Building a factory of this size is not easy. What are some of the challenges you encountered?" 

The engineering works were a bit challenging. The funding has also been a challenge. The plant cost me $240 million [about Sh29 billion], which is the biggest single investment in steel in Africa in two decades. We have got teething problems, but we are overcoming them and the plant is now stable. The plant is producing its own electricity from the waste heat. The capacity of waste heat is 55 megawatts [MW].

QUESTION: "How important is this factory to Kenya?" 

The plant is producing materials called steel fillets and wire rod coils. These are largely imported from South Africa and China. They will now be produced by Devki Steel Mills. This will save the country about $350 million [Sh42.35 billion] in foreign exchange.

QUESTION: "Devki has largely invested in building materials like steel and cement, but recently we have seen you are diversifying into fertilizer blending, aviation and packaging. What other sectors do you see opportunities in?" 

Devki now believes in diversification. We have Mavuno fertiliser, which is a 40-year-old brand that we want to promote because the government is encouraging investment in agriculture. We are also diversifying into power generation by looking at waste heat recovery power in all our factories.

We are also setting up a wind power project which will produce 65MW. This will position our group as a green energy company in the coming years.It will make us more sustainable because energy is the biggest cost in manufacturing.

QUESTION: "Devki Group has its roots in the Gikomba market [Nairobi] where it started more than three decades ago as a hardware store. What advice would you give to a young entrepreneur aspiring to grow into a billionaire industrialist?" Everything you start, you start very small, but you have to dream and think big and work towards your goal. You should try and do one thing at a time and do it with your whole heart. You should not work on something today and then next year, you start something else. Don’t do trial and error. First, you need to dedicate time to do your research, then put your full commitment to it.You will eventually become successful.

QUESTION: "What is this one deal that you were so close to cutting, yet it slipped through your fingers?" 

I was looking for this sugar company called Mumias. I worked very hard to put a deal together keeping in mind that I will run that company as part of my plan to go into the agricultural sector and make sure I change the lives of people in the Mumias area.But it never materialized after I saw there was too much political element in it. I came out because where politics is, we don’t board.

QUESTION: "Why not do a greenfield investment in place of leasing Mumias Sugar?" It’s not difficult to start a greenfield venture. I went into that deal because it is easier for me if I have a head start. I said if it doesn’t work, then definitely I can start a new one which we still would like to do. But in the meantime, I got the project for wind power with a capacity of 65MW which is bigger than that and we are now working on it.

QUESTION: "One would assume you have the government’s ear. What is this one piece of advice you gave the government that was ignored?" I put a proposal to the previous government that we have sufficient clinker [material for making cement] in the country, but Kenya is importing $250 million [about Sh30.25 billion] every year while we have the ability to produce and stop importation. The government never put any duty instead, the issue was politicized and duty never came. If the government does not move to protect local industry, that is slowing down the industrialization of the country.

QUESTION: "You have always insisted that every experience gives you the opportunity to grow…" Every problem, hindrance or obstacle gives you a new lesson. Only then will you learn the hard way. If you learn from books or watching or listening to somebody only, it is never going to give you the same result. So every difficulty is a big lesson and a big opportunity. When there’s a problem, there is something in it which can make you bigger. For example, the biggest problem of Covid in the whole world, created big opportunities in medical care, making masks, gloves and vaccines across the world.

QUESTION: "How have supply disruptions as a result of Covid and the war in Ukraine affected your factory operations?"  The disruptions largely affected the supply of raw materials and food commodities around the world. The cost of raw materials went up three times. So manufacturing activity became very challenging because people cannot afford to buy expensive items.

QUESTION: "What are some of the major lessons from Covid and the war in Ukraine for factories in Kenya?" We need to start becoming self-dependent now so we sustain ourselves if this kind of situation arises in future. This is a long journey but it is a very important lesson.As a country, we can sustain ourselves in terms of pricing and availability of raw materials by stabilising the supply-demand chains. We have to protect our local industry and agriculture to grow so that we become self-sufficient in food production and manufacturing. If we do that by encouraging local investments, even if supply chains are disturbed in future, we are not largely affected. At the moment, a significant share of GDP goes into import bills and paying loans.

This is partly because we don’t have a strong local industry that will help us become self-sufficient. We will never become self-sufficient if the current situation continues because we are heavily reliant on imports.

QUESTION: "What incentives are necessary for a company like yours to grow and expand?" The growth of the steel industry is always based on the development of the country. Kenya is developing, infrastructure is developing and low-cost housing is coming. But this will not be sustained unless they stop imports. Even if industries are here, people keep on importing and do not support local industries. Until that time when the industry is protected, we will not sustain local investments. We should not be exporting our jobs to China and India. We are importing everything including furniture and even kibiriti [match box] because we don’t have clear policies on importation. They have to put heavy import duty on the products we produce.

If they don’t do that, the country will always fail and local industry cannot survive. America had to put a 250 per cent duty on steel imports because they wanted to sustain their own industry. If America can do that, who are we?