Pixies, the moneymaker in dry areas

The Emali-Ukia road in Makueni leads to acres and acres of dry farmlands. You would assume that nothing much comes out of this dry area.

Trucks veer off the dusty road into farms to pick pixie tangerines, small seedless fruits that are turning farmers into millionaires.

Pixies are establishing Makueni as one of Kenya’s top suppliers of citrus fruit.

Two years ago, Makueni farmers earned Sh595 million from pixies, the highest amount in all the 10 counties that grow the fruit, according to data obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture.

This translates to 31.2 percent of the total value of citrus fruits the country produced in 2019, when the farmers in Makueni also increased acreage under pixies, from 622 to 2,296 hectares, surpassing counties such as Kilifi which had the highest acreage in 2018.

The fruit of the citrus family has become a money-spinner for many small-scale farmers who intercrop it with maize and peas, making at least Sh100,000 per season.

Large-scale farmers have spawned multiple agribusinesses, unlocking the agricultural potential of the once sleepy county.

With 30 acres of fruits at Muthyoi village, Peter Mwaka, is the biggest pixie farmer in the country. A retired teacher, he says, pixies fetch better prices, at Sh150 a kilo.

“I ‘stole'’ the pixie scions from a farm in South Africa after admiring the colourful fruits, while on a business trip. The fruit has since diffused in the neighbourhood through ‘theft’ of scions,” he jokes.

Mr Mwaka has more than 6,000 fruit trees. With the help of his sons, he set up a robust online shop for selling fruits and seedlings, growing his agribusiness immensely.

They supply about 1,000 tonnes of the fruits to Naivas Supermarkets, Parklands Corner Shop, and other major fruits outlets in Nairobi.

To fetch maximum returns, the farmers have learned how to delay harvesting.

Taste of success

“To delay the ripening of pixie to August, September, and October we water them during the dry spell. When the supply of pixie is limited, the demand is high and the price is premium,” says Ambrose Kimanthi, another pixie farmer who boasts of at least 20 acres of the fruit trees.

Seed quality has also boosted production.

Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (Kephis) and Makueni county government have established two nurseries where farmers buy certified seeds.

“Pixie seedlings are a hotcake. We graft pixie scions on lemon rootstock to yield superior pixie seedlings. Whereas the rootstock comes from roadside nurseries, we source the scions from mother blocks in Makueni because it is the only place with mature pixie trees,” says Sila Mbolu, who adds value to tropical fruits seedlings in Tala, Machakos.

Josephine Kyengo is also in the pixie trade, but not as a farmer.

“My children have gone through very good schools and universities thanks to my pixie business,” says Ms Kyengo who buys the tangerines from farms and sells in Nairobi’s City Market.

Just like many of her peers, she started small; as a hawker who took at most 200 kilos to local markets.

Seven years of consistency and discipline has seen her rise to the league of the most successful traders, buying truckloads of the fruits and selling in Nairobi.