Why I quit state job to farm French beans

Jedidah Wacera King’ori an IT graduate turned farmer is quickly making a name for herself as a French beans farmer in Isinya, Kajiado County.

King'ori started her IT career at the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries in 2009 after graduating with a diploma in Information Technologies from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology  (JKUAT).

However in May 2018,the desire to be her own boss made her quit her state job to venture into horticulture farming.

" I was earning about Sh 18,000 per month at the ministry.This money was not enough for me, " She told Nation in a past interview .

Armed with Sh180,000 capital from her savings and loans from friends and family, Wacera established Tail Fin Enterprises and ventured into French beans farming in her rural home in Makuyu,Murang’a county.

“It was not easy at first. I remember I was not able to access money from banks”, she says as she reminisces.

Today, Wacera is among the leading exporters of French beans courtesy of her 15-acre piece of land in Kajiado, a journey she says has not been easy.

Tail Fin Enterprises exports French beans to markets in United Arab Emirates.

The budding farmers however says she has faced setback in her attempt to access the  US and European Union markets.

The EU for instance since May 26th this year   introduced stricter measures on Kenyan beans as it seeks to tightens checks on residue levels among other parameters — a move that has made accessing this market even harder.

With these measures, beans from Kenya will be subjected to a 10 per cent mandatory sampling.

The doubling of sampling rate from 5 per cent previously, is expected to adversely hit farmers and make EU market more expensive to access.

" This tough condition has made it difficult for French beans farmers like me to access the EU market , though it's a market we would love to supply, " she added.

On the same land, she  also farms onions, butternuts, and cabbages which she sells locally.

Wacera has employeed 3 permanent workers and 20 casual labourers on the farm.

She says the minimum size of land you can use to grow French beans is 1 acre although she recommends 3 acres for a start.

An acre under the beans according to her can yield about 4.5-5 tonnes which she sells at Sh 80-100 per kg for local market and Sh450-Sh 500 per kilogramme if exported..

“With French beans, you have to plant every other week and it matures at between 45 and 50 days,” she says.

In a good month, she rakes in between Sh300, 000 and Sh350, 000 in profit.

In the next 5 years, Wacera expects to extend the area of land under French beans