Musician Gilad Milo was propelled into a celebrity status in Kenya largely through his hit “Unajua” that featured Wendy Kimani. The song which centred on the theme of love has accumulated over 8 million Youtube views. One thing that amused Kenyans was Gilad’s ease in singing the Swahili language despite being a foreigner.
But with his music career soaring to great heights, Gilad has always described himself as a jack of all trades. Having worked as a journalist, public relations expert, diplomat and musician, he believes no one was born to specialise and do a single job.
“You were not born to do one thing. The world is yours to explore and experience. You’re not stuck in what you’re currently doing and believe me; you’re doing exactly what you are supposed to be doing right now,” says the ex diplomat.
Inside the Ole Raha garlic farm
The 51 year old has found a fortune in farming where he is a partner of Ole Raha garlic farm which sits in Kajiado County. He explains that they did everything from scratch including clearing up the land, conducting soil sampling, ploughing and setting drip irrigation.
According to Gilad, for one to be a successful farmer, he/she has to pay great great attention to the minute details. Overall, garlic does well in an area with enough sunshine and with adequate water especially in the first 2 months.
Gilad ensures that he uses mature seed garlic which is crucial in having the plants germinate within a short period. The varieties at the Ole Raha Farm are Rwanda Giant and Africa Giant. Generally, garlic matures in a period of four months.
There are pests and diseases which may hamper the farmer’s output. This calls for scouting the farm and spraying of pesticides. Gilad says that even though garlic is a ‘strong’ plant, red ants may eat its leaves but are easily done away with by available pesticides.
The “Sema Milele” hitmaker reveals that an acre of garlic may consume between ksh 300000 – 350000. The most expensive input is the drip irrigation system which may cost ksh 160000. He points out that a farmer may harvest 4 tonnes of the crop with each kilogram retailing at 150 shillings. This adds up the total earning to Ksh 600000.
He doesn’t export the garlic due to the ready market in Kenya. The Ole Raha farm has since ventured into producing garlic seeds for farmers. Moreover, they plan to venture into production of garlic paste in future.
