Business Quest 
modern farming overhead irrigation
For many years, agriculture has been a key contributor to national income as well as helping stabilize food security within the country. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the sector also employs 40% of the country’s total population; and 70% of the rural population.Even then, devastating environmental degradation and biting desertification has limited the effectiveness of Agriculture as a key player within the country’s economy.
It is, therefore, not surprising that over the past 20 years, farmers have worked tirelessly to try and adapt to prevailing circumstances through utilization of evolving technological inputs into their farming practices and crop farming. This has been coupled with concentration of farming activities in areas with favorable climatic and environmental conditions. One of these areas has been Limuru.
Limuru has been attractive to many farmers and agriculturalists due to its near-perfect conditions for a wide range of crops. Its proximity to Nairobi – a major regional market –and the increasingly high-quality road network has made it easier to facilitate the entire process from transporting farm inputs to selling the packaged products to consumers.
Limuru is located northwest of Nairobi city and is about 25-35 minutes away. Its high altitude and cool climate all year round provides for perfect conditions for a diverse range of crops.Traditionally, it has primarily been a ‘tea zone.’ This is however beginning to change remarkably as farmers are now opting for high-yielding crops that mature within a very short period of time.Potatoes, sweet potatoes, sweet corn, Maize, Sunflower, Kales, Spinach etc. are now commonplace in Limuru.
Of the many farms based in Limuru, Molly Farm has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of crop diversification. Besides Sweet Potatoes, Potatoes, Sweet Corn and Corn, the farm has partnered with a Dutch firm to trial hybrid crops on its expansive farm. The farm manager says incorporating moder technology will be key to ensuring that the farm sustainably keeps its yields high and is able to plant a wide variety of crops that can survive the harshest of environmental or climatic conditions.
Richard Otieno has been a farm manager at Molly for the past 7 years and is adamant that diversification of crop farming and trying out new crops with high yields will help farmers/farms contribute meaningfully to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as well as continuously employ majority sections of the population.
He says, “Limuru has the perfect conditions for a wide range of crops.Even then, we always do our very best to innovate and ensure that we are at par with prevailing conditions.We want to put out as much yield as possible. We believe that diversification in terms of the type of crops on our farm will help us reach as many consumers as possible and address the issue of food security.”
Molly Farm supplies to top retailers in the region including Carrefour,whom they partnered with in 2016 and have supplied sweet corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes since then.
‘’The partnership with Carrefour has helped expose us to the retailer’s extensive network. We are now able to reach consumers with our products and have widely utilized their network to consistently reach them,’’ added Mr Otieno.
In the beginning of the year, the government pledged to subsidize production by reducing the financial cost on farmers.This is expected to cushion farmers against high farm input costs and help secure the country’s food security.
With the implementation of favorable policies aimed at protecting agriculture as a key economic sector within the country,even much better production levels are expected from Limuru farmers.This will also go a long way in cementing its place as the agricultural hub of Nairobi, its environs, and the region at large.
