Joseph Kirimi and his wife Irene Nkatha at their farm in Githongo, Imenti Central. PHOTO | PHOEBE OKALL
What you need to know:
The family attributes their continuing success in business to several savings and credit co-operative society loans that they have taken over a 13-year period, totalling Sh2.2 million.
Joseph Kirimi dropped out of school in Standard Five in 1988 due to lack of school fees and secured manual jobs in construction sites where he earned about Sh15 per day.
Today, the 44-year-old is a successful farmer in Chogoria, Meru, where he operates a chain of businesses which earn him and his wife over Sh150,000 every month.
Mr Kirimi and his spouse Irene Nkatha keep 11 dairy cows that produce between 60 and 70 litres of milk daily, a butchery which generates about Sh70,000 per week and chicken which give them about Sh50,000 every month.
The couple has also planted green peas on a one-and-a-quarter acre piece of land from which they estimate they will earn another Sh100,000 upon harvesting.
The family attributes their continuing success in business to several savings and credit co-operative society loans that they have taken over a 13-year period, totalling Sh2.2 million.
“I feared going for a loan at the beginning because I thought they would auction my property (in case of default),” Mr Kirimi told Enterprise.
“But after interacting with officials of a Meru-based sacco, they made me confident about applying for a small sum to boost my business.”
By this time, Mr Kirimi had saved some money from his construction work and bought five chickens whose eggs he would sell at a nearby market.
In about a year, he had increased this number to about 180.
Bought a heifer
In 1996 he bought a heifer which calved after two years, enabling him to join a local dairy farmers group. After delivering milk for about six months and channelling the cash to a local sacco branch, he was finally eligible for a loan.
The father of five acquired his first loan of Sh20,000 three years later and using these capital injection, increased the family’s chicken stock by another 50.
Their egg business caught on quite well, with the duo selling about six crates of eggs every day or two through which they managed to repay the loan in four months and almost immediately applied for another one.
“I decided to apply for another Sh40,000 loan repayable in one year to buy two more heifers that would increase milk production. The egg business and the milk sales saw us repay this loan in about eight months,” said Mr Kirimi.
He has now become a regular or “serial” loan applicant. He took another loan to buy a vehicle to ease his movements in the farm and also rent space to start a butchery business.
As his dairy cows increased, he bought a piece of land at Sh300,000 where he planted napier grass as well as maize, cabbages and green peas for domestic consumption and sale. The couple has employed six workers who help them in the butchery where they sell meat from at least two cows every day, demand for which Mr Kirimi says he struggles to meet.
“I am applying for another loan that will help me purchase chaff cutter machine and a lorry for transporting napier grass from the farm to my homestead,” he added.
The farmer adds that he wants to have a tourist class hotel in Meru County, an enterprise that he says will once again be funded by loans which he says are good if they are for investment purposes.
