By George Munene

“The farmgate price of Grade 1 garlic is currently Sh150 per kilogram, the spice matures in four months and from an acre a farmer can harvest at least six tons. This means from just one acre a farmer can rake in Sh1million. This makes garlic farming a clearly profitable agricultural endeavor,” says Stanley Gichuki, the proprietor of Saumu Empire.

Despite its price dropping in recent months due to an influx of garlic into the country imported from Rwanda, in the six years he has been in the garlic business, Gichuki says he has not seen its price drop below Sh100 per kilogram.

The major hurdle to getting into garlic farming is its cost of production. For a newbie farmer, growing garlic on an acre could run them between Sh160,000-250,000 depending on availability and accessibility to water. “I often advise farmers to start small as they learn the ropes, perhaps on one-quarter of an acre which can cost them about Sh50,000. A modest beginning you can build on is better than not starting at all,” he says.     

On finishing high school in 2011, Stanley hawked farm produce to try and make ends meet. While most agriproducts were readily available, the Nyeri-based farmer could hardly scrounge 10 kilograms of garlic to sell to customers who were ever in demand of it. Having identified this obviously underserved market, in 2014, he embarked farming on farming the spice on just one-quarter of an acre, which he has built to what is now Saumu Empire: a garlic farming and breeding business.

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The marketability of locally grown garlic has also been on the upswing; “Most of Kenya’s garlic is imported from China but with the brief Covid-19 imposed lockdown in March of last year many consumers had a taste of locally grown garlic which many contend is tastier and more aromatic to imports,” the young farmer elucidates. Chinese garlic is also bleached in chlorine to help it keep longer and for whitening. Additionally, its cloves are treated making it impossible for use in propagation.   

Garlic is graded according to size with a farmer needing to get at least 40 kilograms; this is classed as Grade 2; per bulb for its commercial production. Grade 1 garlic weighs over 50-55 grams. Grade 1 garlic has a farmgate price of Sh300, and Grade 2 fetches half of that; Sh150.    

“I prefer farming garlic to any other crop because of two major factors: its long storage time of up to 6 months makes garlic an ideal farming choice; in case the price is too low, unlike most agricultural produce which is easily perishable, farmers can hold onto their garlic and wait for more favorable market conditions. The price of garlic is also another attractive proposition for those looking to get into its growing; the spice usually sells for between Sh120 and 300,” he explains.

Now growing three-acre of garlic of his own, and having another 100+ outgrowers, it is a point of pride for him that without any external support, he has managed to grow his business steadily only off what he earned from farming. 

Stanley points out that many farmers looking to get into the nascent garlic farming agribusiness fail due to a lack of proper agronomic knowledge. To this end he offers training at a charge of Sh3000 and consultancy services to budding farmers; currently having dozens of satellite farmer projects he is overseeing. Saumu also buys garlic from its outgrower farmers in an effort to meet the crop’s high demand. 

Seeds are the major cost in garlic production; for an acre of garlic, a farmer needs 200 kilograms of planting cloves which cost Sh400-600 per kilogram. Garlic farming is as well labor-intensive, requiring consistently available farmhands. You will also need to have access to a constant supply of water.  Despite the obvious challenge

Buying mature quality seedlings means less production cost, e.g. thinning. The cloves are also disease-free as the sickly are weeded out in the nursery.

Garlic can be planted in basins or beds; this is usually dictated by the irrigation method in use. Under ideal conditions, an acre of land can cater to 1400-1500 garlic planting basins with one basin measuring 2 meters by 1 meter and holding 200 bubs for farmers practicing flood irrigation. An acre of land should thus have a plant population of 280,000. A bulb should have a weight of 110-40 grams. With an average bulb weight of 50 grams, a farmer can expect a total yield of 14000 kilograms. 

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In the basins, garlic should be spaced 10 cm by 10cm apart. Ordinary basins measure 2M by 1M ensuring there is enough room for field navigation during routine practices such as weeding and surveying. 

Stanley advises farmers to conduct soil analysis, which is crucial in establishing their soil profile before setting on commercial garlic production. Its major soil nutrient requirements are Phosphorus, Nitrogen and Calcium. The crop performs best in loam, clay and red volcanic soils that are slightly acidic with 5-7 PH. A bucketful of fine well-decomposed goat/cow manure can be used to fertilise a two-meter basin of garlic. DAP fertilizer is used at planting, CAN fertilizer is applied at first top dressing taking care to furrow it around the plant’s base and not touch its stem due to its high scorching effect. NPK is then used at the plant’s bulbing. Herbicides are used at first weeding with hand weeding done thereafter.

Garlic is classed as soft neck or hard necked. Hard neck garlic can be grown in highland areas while the soft necked fares better in more arid regions. As with most other vegetables, garlic matures faster in hotter regions. Garlic is majorly affected by blight; it is not suited to areas with temperatures below 14°C.

Saumu Empire: 0708233861

By George Munene

On a 40*100 piece of land you can harvest up to 300 kilograms of managu every week selling at Sh30 per kilogram; this can earn you a cool Sh9000 in a week.

Having grown managus on a trial basis for home consumption at her back garden in Limuru, Mary Ikigu started commercialy farming the vegetable commercially at the beginning of the year on some 100 disused mushroom growing bags. This she attributes to having found the crop highly marketable, particularly given Kenyan’s newfound love for mboga za kienyeji and it being a resource-efficient crop in its production; does not need to be grown in specialized conditions, i.e. greenhouses, a 5000-liter water tank that ensures access to irrigation water is all Mary recommends. A farmer will also need to cost for manure and part-time employees to help with land preparation, weeding, harvesting and watering depending on the size of their farm.

With what is considered limited farming space; half an acre to 50*100 sized plots; managu farming can be a money minter given access to the right market linkages. The larger your farm size the more its harvest and profit potential. The nutrient-rich vegetable can as well be grown in vertical growing bags.  A farmer she says can strategically divvy up their land into plots to make sure they have constant harvests.

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“Managu is sold in markets in a bunch; a handful for about Sh10 or per kilo, with a kilogram, usually fetching Sh30-40. They are also packed and sold in sacks. As with most other crops, it is a numbers game; the more harvests you have the more you are able to sell,” Ikigu explains.

Managu prices in Kenya are usually dictated by rain patterns: they grow faster and are readily available in markets during rainy seasons; their prices are therefore lower. “You’ll sell managu for Sh2000 a sack during the dry season, over the January to March months the market has thus far been great, but the price can crater to as low as Sh500-300 when rains hit because most farmers depend on rainfed agriculture and are able to grow it as well,” the budding farmer says.

The main markets for managu in Kenya are open-air markets. These include Muthurwa, Kawangware, Kangemi where she takes her produce or has buyers come from to pick the leafy vegetable from her farm. Others are City Park in Nairobi where most buyers, some of whom are Chinese nationals, prefer improved rather than Kienyeji managu which is less bitter. Mary points out that Farmers can also target more structured markets such as learning institutions, restaurants, hospitals and mama mbogas within their locality. 

African Nightshade should be harvested early in the morning or late in the evening. The crop’s leaves deteriorate easily when picked when it is sunny this makes them less appealing to buyers depreciating their value.

A crop can be continuously picked for two months, but the harvesting period can be increased by adding manure every two weeks after weeding. Ratooning; cutting off of the main stalk up to 15-20 centimeters also allows for the plant to develop new shoots extending the harvesting time. This Mary says will however also lead to reduced yield thus she opts to replace her existing crop.

From Mary’s experience, the pests affecting managu are often aphids and mealybugs. Given her crops are organically grown she tackles them using neem oil. “If your crop has suffered a pest attack you should spray them once a week. To prevent such attacks, I keep to a regiment of pro-actively spraying my vegies every two weeks,” she says. This also involves spraying them for fungal attacks; Managu are of the Solanaceae family thus are easily afflicted by late and light blight; using Regain a biological fungicide manufactured by Real IPM. 

For her planting material, she sows seeds picked off her shrubs or buys them from Simlaw or Kenya seed. Managu takes 45 days to grow in her nursery and one to two and a half months before the vegetable’s first harvest depending on the level of agronomic management. Seedlings are transplanted when they are 15cm long/ after 30-45 days or when they have five true leaves. The plant distance should ideally be 30*30cm. On her vertical farm bags, Mary fits two seedlings into every bag

Manure is essential in providing the vegetable with Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium and micronutrients; managu will often naturally grow in areas that are heavily fertilised such as cowsheds. For her bags, Mary uses two buckets of chicken manure and 8 bucketfuls of cow dung.

Managu requires a moisturized environment to thrive with their quantities falling in Kenyan markets over drier months when they fetch a premium price. Watering should also be done at transplanting to improve the survival chances of the plantlets.

“The land prepared in readiness for panting should be finely tilled ensuring the soil is fine enough to hold the plant’s seedlings which are very tiny. The seedlings are encumbered in their germination by compacted soil, taking longer to grow in soils with hardpans,” she says.

Managu does best in soils with a PH of 5.5-6.8 but can grow in various soil types given proper agronomic practices are conducted, i.e, manuring, watering and frequent weeding.

Given the crop’s early success, Mary is planning on expanding her space under managu and cultivate the vegetable not just in her vertical garden. Besides managu, she also commercially grows strawberries, celery, spring onions, parsley, amaranth and kunde. 

You can check out her journey, and pointers on how you too can tap into this lucrative agribusiness here: Mary Ikigu_Thefarmgirlke