If you offer Patrick Ng’ang’a a job with a monthly salary of Ksh 50000, he will politely reject the offer. Patrick is a young person barely 30 years old but why would he reject such an offer in such a depressed economy where most of his age-mates are wailing of unemployment? From the soil, Patrick mints twice or more of what a typical job offer would bring. Here is his story.
Patrick hails from Mung’aria, in Murang’a County. When you go to his home, you will awed by the carefully trimmed hedges made of Cuban gold and other modern shrubs. The kind of things you see in Kileleshwa or Runda. Perhaps you have never been to any of the two areas, be glad you’re now at Patrick’s home.
When he completed high school, he just asked for a small piece of land from his dad and started growing tomatoes.
With his KCSE level education, Patrick’s was already privileged over other conventional farmers who rely on old school farming methods. With his education, he researched on the best varieties for the local market.
Now, Patrick sells tomatoes to Marigiti market in Nairobi and Makongeni in Thika. He does not rely on middlemen who are greatly despised for exploiting farmers.
After growing tomatoes for some years, Patrick saw the need for diversification owing to the need for increasing the land utility.
The idea of dairy farming came to him. While practising the mixed farming, Patrick could use the farmyard manure from his livestock to apply to tomatoes as organic fertilizer and he does exactly that. Technically, it is called mutual interdependency.
The idea of a dairy cow didn’t go bad with him. He started with one animal and now his herd has increased to five animals.
Of the five, two are mature cows that produce an average total of 30 litres of milk per day.
Apart from keeping cows and growing tomatoes. Patrick does landscaping. Owing to the small size of their farm, he has rented some space at a nearby market where he has a nursery for aesthetic plants. He is contracted by home owners to help in landscaping.
The landscaping work starts from about 11.00am. The landscaping gives Patrick over Ksh 20000 per month.
With dairy farming, growing tomatoes and landscaping, the future already looks bright for Patrick.