Kenyan farmers reap rich harvest from dragon fruit cultivation

In 2018, Zhang Wensheng and his friends were vacationing in Kenya, when they realized that the country boasts weather conditions favorable for cultivating some of the fruits usually grown in China.

This aroused their entrepreneurial instincts.

The next year, they established a six-hectare dragon fruit orchard on the shores of Lake Naivasha, 90 kilometers northwest of the capital Nairobi.

In 2020, Zhang received his first harvest, and the locally grown variety of the exotic tropical fruit became available in Kenya for the first time.

However, despite the initial success, the fruit was not popular in the domestic market and Zhang had to rely on exports to countries such as Spain and Italy.

Four years since the introduction of dragon fruit, which is widely grown in the tropical and subtropical areas of China, the juicy, brightly colored fruit has been planted across Kenya, and is readily available in markets and stores, creating many employment opportunities and helping many farmers overcome poverty.

When a China Daily reporter visited Zhang's orchard, run by Kaiview Ecological Horticulture Ltd, in August, only two out of the four vendors who had come to source the fruit were lucky enough to obtain some quantity of it.

Ezekiel Githinji, who sells the fruit to retailers in Nairobi, could buy 40 kilograms, while Rachael Nyambura, who sells it in Naivasha town, purchased 10 kilograms, less than their requirements.

They both admitted that it is a lucrative business that has transformed their lives.

At the orchard, one kilogram of dragon fruit — two or three in number — sells for $1.9-$3.9, depending on the size and quality. At the market, retailers earn a profit ranging from $0.78 to $1.16 per fruit, Githinji and Nyambura said.

Beatrice Wanjiru, a dragon fruit vendor in Nakuru town, said sales of the fruit have lifted her out of poverty, and she is now able to educate her children comfortably.

"I was hawking some items in Nakuru town in 2020 when I found some women eating a fruit that I had never seen. I inquired about the fruit and where I could get it. The following day, I traveled to Kaiview, bought some and headed to the market. The reception was amazing. That's how I became a dragon fruit vendor," she said.

Wanjiru usually buys 80 kilograms of the fruit, which she sells within three days. Her wish is that many farmers should consider growing the fruit to meet ever-growing demand.

With increased cooperation between China and Kenya over the past two decades, more agricultural products have been introduced in Kenya, contributing to the country's dominant agricultural sector.

When Anthony Mugambi, a telecommunications engineer, was sent by his employer to China in 2003 on official duty, a Chinese friend gave him a fruit he had never seen before.

Its taste as well as its name, which was similar to a mythical creature, however, remained etched in his memory long after he returned to Kenya.

In 2012, he planted the seeds of the fruit in his farm in Meru town, about 225 kilometers northeast of Nairobi. This marked the start of a journey that would take eight years before he could get the first harvest.

With no professional background in agriculture and not having seen anyone grow the fruit in Kenya, he had to rely on books, the internet and video-sharing platform YouTube for knowledge. He started off with 200 dragon fruit trees.

The experience, he said, was like a roller coaster, falling and rising, but he remained determined.

"Seeing the first tree flower was the most exciting part of the eight-year journey. I had never seen such a beauty," he said.

In 2020, Mugambi harvested his first dragon fruit, which weighed 844 grams. As he sat down to consume it, his confidence was strengthened. He then engaged in selective breeding, identifying trees with superior characteristics and propagating them.

Mugambi runs the Gravity Farms, where he grows the fruit on a more than eight-hectare plot. He is now an expert in dragon-fruit farming, receiving visitors from across Africa interested in growing it. He has also found a way of reaping the harvest within three years.

He has trained several farmers from across the country, and some of them are running successful businesses.

In many arid and semiarid regions of Kenya, where crop production has been low, dragon fruit can be easily grown and turned into a good source of income for farmers, he said. As Kenya boasts favorable climatic conditions for the growth of dragon fruit, it has the potential to become a major agricultural export commodity.

A client from Italy wanted 5 metric tons of dragon fruit every week, he said. "Another client called from Jordan, asking for 15 tons and wanted to pay upfront, but I can't supply to any of them because I don't have (enough)," Mugambi said. "We're unable to meet local demand," he added.

He said there is scope for value addition, and plans to explore it through the production of dragon fruit juice, pulp, powder and oil, among others.

He said Kenya will be among the largest producers of dragon fruit in the world in 20 years, and this business will bring hundreds of millions of dollars to Kenya every year.