In early 2007, Mr Maurice Onyango was a fruit vendor who picked oranges and pineapples from different farms and took them to various markets to sell around Rachuonyo in Homa Bay County. Before this, he used to work as a machine operator at an apparel company between 1996 and 2002.
In 2009, he decided to produce the fruits on his own, venturing into fruit farming on a seven-acre parcel of land. He was however more inclined to cassava farming until a friend who is an agricultural officer told him that his vast parcel of land which sits mostly on a hill is good for pineapples.
“I was literally forced into pineapple farming by an agricultural officer who saw the hill as a potential for pineapple farming. He gave me 4, 000 suckers to start with and told me to take up the challenge or leave. I did and I have never regretted it,” says Mr Onyango.
He would later make the bold decision to move up the hill, a busy, rocky terrain that one could not imagine that anything would grow. This would end up to be one of the most outstanding dry land farming practices.
With the help of a few young men, he cleared the bushes to prepare the land for production of pineapple. Read More…..
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