Fed up with meagre earnings from his farm, Finelius Irungu woke up one day, uprooted his tea bushes and replaced them with climbing beans.
For years Mr Finelius Irungu, a tea farmer in Murang’a County, would endure a thankless and familiar routine. He would wake up early, harvest his tea leaves and then wait a whole year for bonus payment.
But two years ago, after doing calculations, he decided to quit growing tea, uprooted his tea bushes in King’ori Village and ventured into horticultural farming, planting tree tomatoes, cabbages and other vegetables.
“Earnings from tea are peanuts compared to horticulture. Tea farming is capital and labour-intensive. I was a slave of tea farming, waking up early in the mornings in chilly weather to harvest the leaves, and waiting for a whole year to get a payment that barely sustained my family,” he says, adding that he earned an average of Ksh70,000 in tea bonuses.
“The average production per acre here is 1,000 kgs of green leaf, while average bonus payment is Ksh50 a kilo. I did these calculations and realised that I was not in any business; I then decided to research on horticultural farming. This led me to a vocational agricultural training institute in Kiambu, where I discovered climbing beans. I now practise what I learnt at the institute. I can confidently say that most farmers live in poverty for lack of information,” he says.
Today, he is assured of good earnings from his quarter-acre farm every three months, while other farmers toil on an acre for a whole year but earn less than. His investment is an average Ksh12,000, which includes costs for land preparation, manure, weeding ̧ seeds, supporting sticks and harvesting.
Manure takes about Ksh5,000, and supporting sticks, Ksh2,000. Weeding costs Ksh1,200 at Ksh300 per day. Last year, he planted about a quarter of a kilo of the beans on a plot of about 10 by 25 feet. He harvested 80kg of beans.
Kalro has so far introduced varieties suitable for different parts of the country. These include MAC 49, MAC 13, and MCA 34, while the most common variety in western Kenya is Omuvano. To maximize quality production at minimal cost, Mr Irungu grows his beans organically.
Mr Irungu has signed contracts with seeds shops in Othaya and Mathioya sub-counties to supply them with climbing bean seeds. He says there is a guaranteed market as long as a farmer produces high quality beans. Runner beans are preferred due to their high nutritional value and better production potential than traditional bush beans. “Good returns motivated me to increase the area under climbing beans to quarter of an acre last year. I harvested 720kg, equivalent to eight sacks of 90kg each.” He sold a kilo at Ksh200, pocketing Ksh144,000.
This was his third attempt following a trial and error period. According to Mr Peter Chege, an agricultural officer with RODI-Kenya, with proper agronomy and spacing, an acre of land can produce up to 32 bags of climbing beans, compared to an average production of 11-90kg bags for bush beans. However, not everything is so rosy for Mr Irungu, whose one-and-a-half acre farm is near Aberdare Forest, a tea zone. His biggest challenge is land, a problem he plans to solve by planting beans on a half-acre piece of land currently under tree tomatoes. There is a shortage of climbing bean seeds in the market, which frustrates many farmers intending to grow the crop. “The seeds are not readily available, and when found the cost is prohibitive, with a kilo retailing at between Ksh200 and Ksh250. The biggest problem, however, is that most farmers lack the skill on how to grow it,” says Mr Irungu, who grows the MAC 49 variety, considered one of the superior varieties.
The other superior variety available at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (Kalro) is Omuvano, but Mr Chege advises farmers to seek expert advice on the best varieties for their areas.
Kalro has so far introduced varieties suitable for different parts of the country. These include MAC 49, MAC 13, and MCA 34, while the most common variety in western Kenya is Omuvano. To maximize quality production at minimal cost, Mr Irungu grows his beans organically.
Mr Irungu explains the steps he takes in preparation his land to grow the crop
- Prepares land, then digs furrows
- Applies well-prepared composted manure.
- Sprays the furrows with a concoction of rabbit urine and tithonia leaves, at a ratio of one litre of urine to 10 litres of water, and then plants immediately after.
“The biggest secret is manure, he says, adding that his prepares it using different types of leaves with rabbit droppings and urine being mandatory components. (The farmer has more than 300 rabbits and they produce enough urine and manure for his farm, and a little more extra that he sells to other farmers).
“Beans do not require any nitrogen fertilizers since they are nitrogen fixers. Climbing beans have more leaves, almost three times broader than those produced by bush bean varieties,” adds the farmer. Plant a single seed at a spacing of 1ft between plants and 1.5feet between rows. Recommended spacing by Kalro is 75 centimetres between rows and 30 centimetres between plants. Weeding is very crucial and is done twice.
The first is done two weeks after germination, and a second about two to three weeks later. By this time, the beans will have produced a big enough canopy to frustrate weeds. Visit the farm daily to monitor plant development and uproot any emerging weeds. After three months, the beans are ready to harvest.
Pods must be harvested continuously as they mature, otherwise the plant stops producing flowers. Climbing beans grow up to five metres tall, and need support——————– using equally tall strong sticks or poles. The taller the stick the better, says the farmer. Introduce the support after the first weeding.
Facts about climbing beans
- Grow up to four metres high;
- Require less space, with a higher production of at least 100 pods, compared to 25 pods per season for bush beans (KALRO);
- Depending on the variety, the beans take between three to four months to produce their first pods;
- They can be harvested for up to four months;
- Can grow anywhere under irrigation or in high rainfall areas;
- They come in various colors including red, red/white flowered seeds and pure white;
- Produce an average of 18-22 bags per acre (KALRO).
Mr Irungu attributes his higher yields to closer spacing, application of enough manure and going organic, which reduce the costs of production, and rehabilitate the soil texture.