Pixie are arguably the sweetest orange variety in the country. It’s rich flavour comes with an equally expensive price tag. Haron Muthini, is a Makueni farmer who saw the value of the fruits earlier on and is now reaping millions from his pixie oranges venture.
Speaking to Lynn Ngugi in a recent interview, the farmer explained the process and benefits of growing pixie oranges. A pixie’s zion is grafted onto a lemon plant because it doesn’t have seeds.
Here is the story of Haron Muthini as told by WoK,
Venturing into farming
After completing high school in 2011, he stayed home for four years as his parents could not afford to take him to University immediately.
He began farming and planted kale, lemons and a couple of crops until 2015 when he joined university to pursue General Agriculture.
After completing university in September 2019, he knew he had no desire to be employed. This is what led him back home to continue with farming.
Getting serious with pixie oranges
While still in university, he had grafted some pixies onto his lemons trees. Some dried up while others grew. In 2020, some of the trees had matured and he got Ksh12,000 from the sale of fruits in one tree.
This made him realize the opportunity and money in the pixie business. His father allocated him land and he has currently planted 1400 pixie plants on about eight acres of land.
He sells his fruits off season as the prices are very good. He sells them at Ksh150 per kg with the trees planted in 2020 producing up to 80kilograms. A well-taken care of tree can produce upt 120 kilograms.
Planting of pixies
Haron offers planting services for those wishing to get into the business. He charges 102,000 per acre if one wants pixies.
The services include manure, planting and taking care of the crops until they are four months old. He then gives the farmer a list of items to be sprayed.
For those who want lemons which can later be used to graft the pixies, he charges Ksh88,000 per acre. For one acre, they plant 200 trees and the farmer ought to have water.
Nurturing the plants requires a good amount of money. He broke even after 3.5 years meaning the crops require a lot of patience.
To plant the trees, they dig about 21/2m deep and pour a bucket of manure then cover it with the top soil. They also pour enough water to the plant then allow it to grow.
After one year, they dig across the hole and add manure. After about 1.5 years, the tree begins to produce flowers which will turn to fruits in six months.
The plant starts producing after 2.5 years but at this time it only produces a handful of fruits. A farmer needs about 20 litres of water per month. The more the plant matures, the more it will give fruits.
The farmer still needs to ensure they feed it with manure from time to time. The plants are also susceptible to diseases and pests and a farmer needs to know what should be sprayed. Hence, people wanting to get into the business need to know that it is capital intensive.
Haron produces more than 150 tonnes from his farm with a tonne selling for more that Ksh100,000.
Despite him and other farmers producing a lot of citrus fruits, they are still not able to meet the local demand. This is the reason they don’t have surplus for export.
What they produce is only 2 per cent of the local consumption. He travels around the country encouraging farmers to get into the production of these fruits. In future, he hopes to look into value addition. The farmer also offers consultation services and farm tours and lessons at a fee.
Family
His family has been very supportive of the venture. His late father gave him the land and his mother often helps around the farm, especially in his absence.
The siblings are equally supportive with the last born pursuing Agriculture in college in order to follow in his brother’s footsteps. His wife is pursuing Human Resource Management.
