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Couple finds treasure in pineapples
Ms Anne Awino displays a pineapple fruit at her 5 acre farm in Awendo, Migori county. Her passion for the fruits came as a coincidence during her visit to Tanzania in 2009. PHOTO/JACOB OWITI
What you need to know:
- It is in Tanzania where she noticed an interesting scenario — buyers fighting to buy a few pineapples brought to the market by two Kenyan traders.
- In 2010 they embarked on pineapple farming on their five-acre farm that had remained fallow for close to a decade.
- Already, the couple has planted 10,000 pineapples since 2010 and they expect to increase the acreage to 60,000 plants in the next two years.
The high demand for pineapples in Tanzania lured Anne Awino and her husband into producing the fruit which is rarely grown in Migori.
Her passion for the fruits came as a coincidence during her visit to Tanzania in 2009.
As a second-hand-clothes dealer, Ms Awino would travel to the neighbouring country every month to buy kangas at relatively lower prices.
“Residents here travel to Tanzania using boda boda and matatus daily,” says the 31-year-old.
The transport charges ranges between Sh200 and Sh500 from her home in Kanyagwa, in Awendo, Migori County.
Passion
But it is in Tanzania where she noticed an interesting scenario — buyers fighting to buy a few pineapples brought to the market by two Kenyan traders.
And given her passion in agribusiness, Ms Awino saw this as a fresh revenue stream which she could exploit.
In 2010, together with her husband Ferdinand Odondi, a worker at Sony Sugar Company, they embarked on pineapple farming on their five-acre farm that had remained fallow for close to a decade.
“My wife and I are like minded, and this makes every part of our dream a reality,” says Mr Odondi.
With Sh5,000 seed capital, the couple tilled the farm, and today, their annual turnover runs to Sh750,000.
Planting
To cultivate the pineapples, Mr Odondi says they cut off the leafy top part of the plant along with an inch or two of its stem which he plants.
Alternatively, they trim all the remaining fruits leaving just the base of the leaves then let its top part dry for a few days.
Thereafter, the base of the leaves is placed in a container with water where the roots start sprouting in about a week.
The base is then planted in the farm.
The crop takes between two to three years to start producing fruits.
A fruit starts forming in the centre of the pineapple plant. When ripe, its appearance is a large, bright red and yellow flower.
“Pineapples grow to about five feet and have spiny leaves,” says Ms Awino.
Already, the couple has planted 10,000 pineapples since 2010 and they expect to increase the acreage to 60,000 plants in the next two years.
“We harvest between 5,000 and 8,000 fruits every four months.
This translates to Sh250,000 profit,” says Mr Odondi.
The pineapples are ferried to Tanzania by road.
“Our major customers are hotels which buy the fruits for making juice,” says Ms Awino.
