Peter Marwa has embraced horticulture and is making a fortune by producing onions.
The 29-year-old earned a Bachelor of Finance from Kisii University and moved to Hola, Tana River County, in 2018 in quest of work.
When he couldn’t acquire one, Marwa opted to start farming because there was land available for irrigation.
Since then, he has grown watermelons, onions and groundnuts.
Hola Irrigation Scheme is the oldest National Irrigation Authority scheme, having been established in 1953.
Cotton was the dominant crop for a long period, but farmers eventually shifted to horticulture, growing watermelons and onions due to water availability.
Marwa is a farmer in Area Six of the Hola irrigation program. He has planted 12 acres of onions and expects to produce approximately 10 tonnes.
He began site preparation last year and had a nursery built so that he could plant onions across 15 acres.
“I used about 15 kilos of onion seeds in the nursery, but the 2021 October-November-December short rains eroded some of the seedlings. Instead of planting 15 acres, I ended up doing 12 acres under onions,” he said.
Marwa stated that the scaling down was a significant loss for him, as he had spent Ksh 6,000 for a kilo of onion seeds.
Nonetheless, he did not give up hope and continued to maintain the nursery as best he could.
He was able to save the majority of the seedlings for transplanting across the 12 acres.
However, Marwa believes that pest and weed control is one of the most difficult challenges.
“I end up spending a lot of money on controlling weeds and the thrips. Though I must say the returns are good, especially now when there is a shortage of onions,” he said.
According to agronomists, thrip is the most devastating insect in onion growing. Other pests include nematodes, onion flies and stem and bulb eelworm.
The crop is also susceptible to foliar diseases and bulb rots, a bacterial disease that lowers onion bulb quality.
Marwa intends to sell his produce to the local market in Hola and Nairobi.
“Already, local traders have started coming to buy onions in the farm. I am selling a kilo at Ksh 100 at the farm gate and Ksh 120 in the market,” he said.
Marwa expects to harvest roughly 10,000 kilograms of onions, which is equivalent to Ksh 1 million.
He stated that his production costs are approximately Ksh 50,000 per acre, which includes Ksh 3,400 in water charges per season as well as the cost of labor and chemicals for weed and insect management.
Marwa has already set up a nursery for the upcoming planting season. The onions will be ready to transplant in the following one and a half months.
“Residents used to buy onions from far markets but since we started growing onions, I am able to supply to the local market. I plan to sustain that market even as I explore other bigger markets,” Marwa said.
