Gone are the days we did agriculture blindly: we are now in the days of AGRIBUSINESS in which you must carefully consider the amount of capital you invest in the farming venture and the expected profit.
Pawpaw farmers in Kenya are set to increase their yield by up to 200 percent, producing enough to fill the country’s huge deficit while supplying more the lucrative export market, enabling farmers to earn huge returns, thanks to new high yielding variety from Philippine expected to be shipped in by SeedMan Limited.
The Red Lady F1 variety has the ability to yield up to 54-120 fruits when the trees reach peak production in two years. Considering that an acre farm can hold up to 1000 trees, a farmer is likely to harvest close to 54,000 fruits in a season and a whopping 108,000 fruits in a year for the three seasons.
So how much do you invest and what are the expected returns for papaya farming in Kenya? Allow us to give you figure from our experience: these are figures (in Ksh) for one acre done with the recommended spacing of 2×2 meters in which an acre accommodates 1100 plants. They are estimates for one season which runs for about 2 years.
Land clearing (by ploughing) 4,500
Holes Preparation (Digging and application of manure) 33,000
Manure 20,000
Seedlings 66,000
Crop protection (pesticides and fungicides) 10,000
Irrigation 20,000
Labour (for general orchard maintenance) 20,000
Total 173,500
Returns:
The average yield in pawpaw farming Kenya for various varieties is about 40 tons per year. Farm gate prices for a kilo of pawpaw go as high as Ksh.60 but let us take a more conservative price of Ksh.30 per kg and a yield of 30 tons per acre. The total income then is Ksh.900,000 giving a profit of Ksh.726,500.
Some pawpaw varieties cultivated in Kenya, for example, solo sunrise and mountain pawpaw have a lifespan of up to 3 years hence giving 2 years of productivity from the same trees. This means that your yield almost twice as mentioned above.
Pawpaw farming is a venture worth considering. If you would want to invest in it, we would love to guide you through. Reach us on 0724698357. You can also download the papaya farming guide below