Many university graduates desire a well-paying white-collar
job after graduating. Unfortunately, that dream remains elusive for many. Young
Fabian Kibet, a media graduate from Katalel village in the heart of Elgeyo
Marakwet County, realising that painful reality, did not waste his time
searching for a job after clearing campus. Instead, he dived 100 per cent into
agri business and has no regrets.
He is fully immersed into horticulture and fish farming
making him one of the most successful young farmers in the area.
“I know the reality of joblessness and so after clearing
college, I did not want to waste my time searching for a job. With that in
mind, after graduating, I went straight into farming,” he says. To start off,
Kibet used his savings to buy seedlings for tomatoes from Eldoret University.
His father also donated half an acre farm to enable him roll out the project.
“My first harvest with tomatoes did so well I was surprised.
I made sure I applied best practice that I had learnt in high school and
searched online on tomato farming,” he says.
Kibet says he planted his seeds in plastic containers inside
a nursery to provide the humid conditions the seeds prefer. After growing the
seeds, he kept the medium moist until the plants broke the surface of the soil.
This, he says, took between one to two weeks before he removed the plastic
bags.
It has not been all roses, he confesses. His major challenge
was pest and diseases especially tomato blight and the leaf minor that attacked
the young plants. To address the problem, he has learnt to spot tomatoes with
early blight, which man
As the disease progresses, the spots begin to develop rings
creating a target pattern. Over time, the blight turns yellow and the leaves
drop off leaving the fruit to scald in the sun.To overcome that challenge, he
removes old plant debris and ensures the leaves of tomato plants do not touch
wet soil. He also practises crop rotation.
Kibet has expanded his project and now grows managu
(indigenous vegetable), sukuma wiki (kales), spinach and cabbages. He also
inter-crops passion fruits and tomatoes. The secret to his farming success, he
says, is simple practices like inter-cropping vegetables and fruits which also
enables him maximise on space. From his vegetables, the farmer earns Sh10,000
per week which goes up when demand is high.
Another trick he advises farmers to embrace is proper
timing. “In farming, timing is everything. A farmer must know when to plant,
harvest and hit the market. That knowledge is crucial,” Kibet shares. In
future, he plans to introduce other crops in his farm like carrots, peas and
cucumber. But his latest craze which he has already started is fish farming.
With the help of the county government, last year he
established his aqua project with a batch of 3,000 fingerlings. The county also
supplied fish feeds and his was to manage the project.
Within six months, he harvested 2,000 mature fish which he
sold between Sh100 and Sh 200 to a fish vendor in Eldoret earning him
Sh300,000. “I used part of the money to construct two more fish ponds each with
a capacity to hold 3,000 fingerlings. I plan to erect 10 more ponds,” Kibet
says hopefully.
He sources the fingerlings from the University of Eldoret
and has hired two farm hands to help manage the farms. Fish farming also has
deep ends and they can be drowning, he says. “Fish farming though lucrative has
its fair share of challenges. The number one head ache is the fish feed which
are quite expensive eating into a far
Another headache is predators that can disappear with entire
produce. But I am learning smart ways to overcome these hurdles,” he says with
optimism. From his farming venture, he is able to lead a comfortable life and
support his siblings. To fellow youth who are forever complaining there are no
jobs he says: “Be open minded and look beyond the office. Stop being choosy and
be ready to soil your hands. Farming pays.”
