Teacher sowing seeds of hope in jobless youth

When Mr Gideon Kiprotich graduated with a Bachelor of  Education (Special needs) degree from Moi University three years ago, he could easily have landed a job as teacher.

But he had his heart and mind on a more challenging and enriching enterprise that he felt would guarantee him better and more stable income.

Mr Kiprotich, 26, had all along been itching to try his hand on vegetable farming, which he did after graduating in 2018.

He had observed his colleagues go through disappointments and heartaches hunting for white-collar jobs in a highly crowded and competitive market.

And as his peers dusted, polished and dropped their resumes at various companies, Mr Kiprotich approached his father and pleaded to be allowed to plant vegetables on a quarter of an acre of the family land.

His father was glad to allow him to pursue his dreams and two years into vegetable farming, the venture has started paying off.

His business, which he christened Cheres Farm, is located in Kimugul village, Chemoiben location, Kericho County.

It has now grown to be the main source of vegetable seedlings in the South Rift region.

He propagates and sells vegetable seedlings to both subsistence and commercial farmers in the region.

“I started the venture with a nursery measuring five-by-three metres. I invested Sh25,000 in total. I had saved the money over a long period. I used the money to buy a net, construction material, propagating media, trays and seeds,” said Mr Kiprotich in an interview with the Nation.

He started off by producing 5,000 vegetable seedlings. The number has now risen to 40,000 seedlings per month.

He hopes to be able to produce 100,000 seedlings per month by early next year, which would enable him to satisfy the demand in Kericho, Bomet, Narok, Nakuru, Kisii, Nyamira and Kisumu counties.

The size of his nursery has since increased to five-by-18 metres. He is planning to set up another early next year as he inches closer to large-scale commercial production.

He specialises in capsicum, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, white and red cabbages, curly kales and managu (African Nightshade).

Cabbage and curly-kale seedlings retail at Sh2 apiece and eggplant at Sh4, while red cabbages go for Sh6 apiece. Cauliflower, Chinese cabbage and capsicum seedlings go for between Sh4 and Sh20 each, depending on the variety, while manage seedlings sell at Sh1.50.

Mr Kirpotich uses treated coco peat media to propagate the seedlings in a greenhouse nursery, which gives the plants a higher survival rate.

Coco peat is made out of coconut husks and is naturally anti-fungal, making it an ideal medium for propagating seedlings in a nursery.

A tech-savvy youth, Mr Kiprotich markets his products on social media, including WhatsApp groups.

This has afforded him a wide network of online customers, besides the many who physically visit his farm to buy mature vegetables or seedlings.

 He has two greenhouses in which he grows tomatoes and capsicum.

The greenhouses set Mr Kiprotich back some Sh100,000 and came complete with irrigation kits.

He has further bought three water tanks at a cost of Sh74,000. The tanks have a storage capacity of 5,000, 3,000 and 2,300 litres.

Mr Kiprotich earns an average of Sh30,000 a month from each greenhouse. He sells mature capsicum at Sh150 per kilo to supermarkets and greengrocers in Nyanza and Rift Valley regions.

Each greenhouse can hold up 200 yellow and 100 red-variety capsicum plants.

He harvests an average of 150kgs of the vegetables each week from the two greenhouses, which fetch him Sh90,000 a month.

To go around the challenge of watering his two greenhouses, the teacher-turned-farmer bought a Sh28,000 water pump and spent a total of Sh120,000 to set up a water supply system that relies on  a stream that cuts through the farm. The water is pumped to the tanks, which are perched  atop an elevated platform, from where it flows to by gravity to the two greenhouses.

Mr Kiprotich is glad that the venture has given him a bit of financial freedom.

“I have never taken a loan from any financial institution and I have no plans to do so. I have grown my business by ploughing back the profits I have been making ever since I started it,” said Mr Kiprotich.

His vision is to make the venture a one-stop shop for horticultural produce in the region.

“Formal employment is not my cup of tea. I have always had a burning ambition to be my own boss and create employment opportunities for the youth,” said Mr Kiprotich.

However, the business comes with challenges.

His vegetables have been rotting while still on the farm, prompting him to seek expert advice.

Mr Benard Mutai, an agronomist, said the advantage of growing tomatoes and capsicum in a greenhouse is that the farmer is able to regulate water supply as well as manage pests and diseases.

“It also makes it possible for the farmer to monitor the plants and weed out those that may be infested with pests and diseases, besides ensuring the required minerals are evenly distributed,” said Mr Mutai.

The agribusiness has inspired the youth in the neighbourhood, some of who are now keen to start small businesses instead of wasting time hunting for elusive jobs in urban centres.

“Despite the huge potential in the agricultural sector, there has been an outcry over importation of fresh farm produce from neighbouring countries, especially Uganda and Tanzania,” said Mr David Tiroto, the Bomet branch chairman of the Kenya National Food Producers Association (Kenfab).

The government has been criticised for failing to provide subsidies to farmers to boost  food production, which is a key plank of the Jubilee government’s Big Four agenda.

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