November 15, 2021

Building resilience of onion farmers through simple post-harvest technologies - Moriati’s story

Fresh Produce

Kenya

To a farmer, the term food loss often means devastation and loss of valuable resources invested into their agricultural venture. Post-harvest food loss in particular is a leading cause of economic loss for farmers, as well as food insecurity for millions of families in Kenya and the world.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), estimates that over 50% of fresh fruits and vegetables produced in sub-Saharan Africa are lost or wasted, mainly during post-harvest processes. This can be attributed to the fact that most smallholder farmers lack knowledge on suitable technologies to properly harvest, store and transport fresh vegetables to consumer markets.

This is the case for 35-year-old Daniel Moriati, a vegetable farmer in Oloitokotok, Kajiado County, Kenya. For him, farming is a passion which began back when he took agriculture lessons in school. He however actualized this passion in 2017, when his father gave him 10 acres of grazing land to farm.

When I started farming, I felt fully equipped with all the knowledge I needed to make it a profitable venture. However, I did not know that I would face challenges that at some point made me regret some of my decisions.

Says Moriati.

During the initial years, he farmed cabbage, kales, beans, and okra. It was profitable so he decided to expand the farm and introduce new crops. He started off with tomatoes.

In 2020, I decided to plant tomatoes. From my little research, tomatoes can fetch good prices if well cultivated. They are however very delicate and prone to diseases, but this didn’t worry me since I had received expert advice from CropCare, an agribusiness support service provider, on tomato production. The crop matured well, and it was all smiles till it was time to harvest. I was stranded with mature tomatoes, but no buyer showed up. Unfortunately, I did not have the means to transport them to consumer markets. I lost all the produce due to its perishable nature. The loss experienced made me decide that I would never farm tomatoes again.

With Moriati’s passion for farming, he decided to further strengthen his relationship with Cropcare, 2SCALE’s Business Support Service in the Neighbourhood Freshmart partnership. He is now a lead farmer, and just harvested his maiden red onion crop last month.

In 2021, Cropcare set up a demonstration farm on a section of my farm. We started off with onions. Walking with agronomists from Cropcare has taught me that I lacked a lot of knowledge on agriculture. Through them, I have seen that if done using the correct inputs, and applying efficient harvesting and post harvesting techniques, farming is a profitable business. I especially gained a lot of valuable knowledge on post-harvest handling of onions.

Curing, harvesting, and storing the produce: added value for onion farmers

For farmers like Moriati, a huge challenge exists when onions are almost ready for harvesting. Middlemen flock their farms, promising to offtake the produce, at a lower than market rate value.

When my onions were a reasonable size, several buyers approached me. They insisted that if I do not sell the onions at that point, the rain would fall and destroy my produce. However, Cropcare experts had already advised that if onion bulbs are well cured, dried, and stored before rainfall, they have an extended shelf life and can be kept fresh for up to six months!

With this, the farmer followed the expert’s advice and decided not to sell to middlemen.

Gerald Mutua, the managing director of CropCare explains that curing is a seven to ten days process of drying down onions to prepare them for storage. Once properly cured, onions can be stored for months and remain fresh.

Part of the process entails bending onion necks, to trigger the onion to dry the leaves and stop taking up water. This boosts the final process of ripening since growth stops, making the onion ready for harvesting.

Through 2SCALE support, the farmer improved his existing storage to be ideal for curing and storage of onions. Before the onset of the rains, he had successfully cured and harvested the onions, which he sold at KES.55 a kilogram against a price of KES.45 that was being offered by middlemen. The storage facility is not limited to onions-the farmer can harvest mature crops, including tomatoes, and store for a given duration, which provides ample time to get a buyer offering competitive prices.

With this experience, Moriati says that he now wants to grow tomatoes in the coming season!

By solving the challenge of lack of access to information on post-harvest technologies and markets, the NFL-2SCALE partnership is not only strengthening food security but also improving the livelihoods of farmers. It is also contributing to the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 12-Zero Hunger and Responsible Consumption and production respectively.

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