Hello wazuans. I have a small shamba which i plan to delve into watermelon farming next year (2016). Would want to try on 3 acres. Does anyone here know a farm i could visit around Thika or Kirinyaga i learn the science of watermelon farming!

Happy Hunting in 2016!

alma! please say something ata kama ni mambo ya swenani farming...

Rollins if you are serious, we are doing something come January which your 3 acres can benefit from.

My experience with most farmers is that they think about the produce first before thinking about the market. The watermelon market is controlled by the brokers in Marigiti. Now unless you know someone there, even though you make 1 m, someone else shall make 1 m from your 5 months of sweat.

Be wise with farming.

If you are really serious about going into it, get in touch. 3 acres is too much for a first time farmer without a distribution network.

You will end up like those guys who sell watermelons on their pickups in every estate.

Farming is not for the weak at heart. It is no longer the place for get rich quick schemes. It's a serious business.

Today I visited a very young guy's farm in Ruaka. Yes, Ruaka. Only 1/4 acre rented. By April, the guy shall be making more than the so called Bank managers. Why? Because he's got his whole supply chain in check.

Talk to me, you will be shocked to see what the business people are doing with less than half an acre as the farmers are still planting sijui 3 acres of watermelons.

@radio, could this be in mheshimiwa njagagua's constituency ?

I agree with Alma1. Leave melons alone unless you have a direct market.Alternatively try your hand in dairy or beef farming. You have better control of the market and production costs. If you are in a hot area you have pests such as dogs, birds and hippos when growing melons.

Thanks @alma. see i knew you are an old hand on this matters. i will definitely get in touch..

@Radio
How is the market like? And cost of production?
I still want to give it a try albeit on a smaller scale.

@alma1. I think i need to connect with you regarding farming if you don't mind.

Actually the opposite is true.

When I was in campus, long long long time ago, I was a pick up broker.

I used to buy tomatoes from farmers, hire a pick up and sell in marikiti.

I discovered that I was selling more than all my competitors combined simply because the farmers trusted me.

Just when they were starting the farms, they couldn't afford their inputs. So as I was passing by going to buy tomatoes in another town, I'd stop, buy the farmer a few tuskers and buy him his inputs. No contracts.

Trust me, harvest season, I used to go for 3 trips in a day in a pickup. My competitors could only go for 1 trip in 2 days.

They used to tell someone, "mapengo amakuja, mwaga nyanya yangu".

So yes, there's a risk of not following a contract but that's business and you take note of that. But most of the time, the guys who go with you make you more than than the greedy ones.

My marikiti brokers were the happiest. I paid them less but my pick up never entered the market without it fully booked. Sales were made when queuing. So my 22 crates were fully booked before I entered marikiti.

So I'd send the pickup back to the farm for more and stay and talk to the mzees in that market. Trust me, they own the market.

Even after becoming kiash, when I land in Subukia, Mwea, Embu, Loitoktok, even now, they ask, unakuja kununua lini?

Suppy chain. Get the farmer the market.

I see kabazi canners in Nakuru buying the worst ugliest most rotten tomatoes for peanuts then selling you their tomatoe sauce. Haki, I can't take that sauce. I know too much.

Farmers need to get into the suppy chain. Otherwise they are just employees. That's what we are trying to build. geofrey, send your email. We should have a sample farm ready in January. Waiting for something to come by ship from south africa. But we are going to use that as a sample of what we want to scale.

Alma,

hit me on pointkenya@gmail.com

Ok guys

I just could not be able to reply to all the emails sent to me. They were very many and since this was the first week of planning this, I may not have been able to reply to all of you.

Please note first that is not my business addy. Have to do that coz you know, you have to be careful.

As for the plan. The team has met a few of the wazuans who I was able to reply to. We wanted to meet more but unfortunately life is not a straight line.

Give me this weekend to relax and I promise to reply to all of you individually.