Then one should add a wheelbarrow or three buckets of manure to at least one bucket of top layer soil. He added, “The holes should be dug 2ft x 2ftx 2ft apart in length and width. Failing to observe spacing will result to very low yields,” he said. The males sprout first so that they can fertilise the female that gives us pumpkins. This is because pumpkins have males and females. “The recommended spacing of the holes should be 15ft apart in all directions. He said intercropping reduces production. He noted that four elements including spacing, use of organic manure, sufficient water and seeds variety matters a lot in pumpkin growing. Munyaga said the secret behind improving and maintaining good yields as well as the farming profitability is following the necessary procedures while planting the crops. Again, after harvesting, pumpkins can stay for up to five months without going bad,” he added. There is always a ready market including selling them to locals. “The prices for pumpkins weighing a kilogram range between Sh15 and Sh50 and the demand is high while production cost is minimal. All I need on the farm is two lorries of manure that goes for only Sh35,000 per lorry and water," he said. This farming is highly profitable with less production cost.
“He agreed to buy the pumpkins at Sh20 per kg and I sold him all that I had harvested. He recently pocketed Sh300,000 after selling 15 tonnes of pumpkins to a trader who was contracted by the United Nations to procure them for the African Union troops in Somalia. He said a single pumpkin weighing between 10-15kgs goes for between Sh300 and Sh700. Munyaga said he uprooted coffee bushes on his farm and replaced them with pumpkins as coffee was not earning him much.Ĭurrently, he plants around 600 pumpkin plants on his farm which produces between 15 and 20 tonnes of pumpkins. This is when I realised my venture was a cash cow,” he said. A broker who saw some of the pumpkins I was selling at Ngara market in Nairobi, bought them all and sold to some Chinese at Sh50 per kg. “My first harvest fetched me more than Sh200,000.
#Pumpkin seedlings for sale how to
Munyaga had already learnt how to grow the pumpkins for high yields, but little did he know that the pumpkins would turn around his fortunes in 2017 when he planted his first crops on his two-acre farm. This is how he begun growing pumpkins even when he was not sure of where to market his produce. Munyaga who spoke to the Star at his Waturu farm in Gathage village said Kuria, a renowned farmer in the region, gave him some organic Israel giant pumpkin seeds which he had brought from Israel after an agricultural tour. This is where I learnt about pumpkins farming and how it was lucrative," he says. "Former Ng’enda MCA Michael Kuria allowed me to work at his farm. Unfortunately, the job did not last as his employer died and he was back to zero, tarmacking.Ī friend touched by his unfortunate situation invited him to work in his farm. Munyaga had trained in coffee farming and was ready to put his skills into work. When Paul Munyaga landed a farm hand job at a friend's coffee farm in Gathage village, Gatundu South four years ago, it felt like a dream come true.
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