Passion Fruit Farming Makes Millionaires in Kenya

Purple Passion Fruit

Passions fruits are perennial plants and the vine has a lifespan of about 5-7 years. Passion fruit grows best at an altitude of 1200-2000 meters above sea level, and at a soil PH of 5.5 to 7. During the growth period the farmer performs maintenance practices such as weeding, spraying with pesticides, and fungicides among others as he waits for harvest. One carefully tended sweet yellow passion fruit vine will grow to a length of over 20 meters, after the first 4-5 months of transplanting. Yields of 30 kg of fruit per vine/year can be achieved. Vigorous growth of passion is the key to achieving high yields. One acre can accommodate over 670 plants and each vine can yield 30 kg of fruit. One kilo goes for Ksh 50-80/= which means that a farmer can earn 670 x 30 x 50= Ksh. 1,005,000 per acre in one year. Secondly the plant grows a deep root system making it resistant to the effects of low soil moisture. Moreover, passion fruit juice is wonderful and in high demand locally in Kenya, and therefore the market is good. Soil testing is recommended for specific soil nutrition recommendations. Otherwise the general recommendations are digging square holes of a width of 1 m and a depth of 1 meter and separating topsoil from subsoil. The topsoil is thoroughly mixed with 1- 2 wheelbarrows of well-rotted manure, 125 grams a  compound fertilizer, and afterward filled back to the hole. After this; the seedling is transplanted into the pre-filled hole. This is a tedious process but it is the key to high yields and profit. When the vine is supplied with adequate manure, and fertilizer, passion fruit grows resistant to pests such as nematodes and other diseases. This strategy ensures that hardpans which limit room for roots expansion to facilitate deep root system development.

Propagation  passion fruits

Propagated through seed, cuttings and grafting. A seedling is ready for transplanting once the vine attains a height of 15-30 cm after 3-4 months.One full grown passion vine has the ability to produce up to 50 kg of fruits per year if it is supplied with the correct nutrients during the transplanting stage. 

Husbandry practices of passion fruit:  

The crop has a slow growth during the first 5 months of its life cycle therefore regular weeding is needed for vigorous growth. 
Injury to the plant during weeding should be avoided as bacteria and fungi will get entry to the plant through the wounds. Once the vine has been transplanted, 4 laterals grow from the main vine. Sometimes they may fail to grow, force them by pinching the shoot tip. The laterals are trellised on a 14 gauge galvanized wire stretched along the tops of posts whose diameter is 18 cm, 3 meter long and its base buried to a depth of 50-80 cm. Inter-row spacing of the vines should be maintained at 2 meters while intra row spacing should be 3 meters. This gives a plant population of about 670 per acre

Harvesting passion: Fruits drop to the ground when fully mature and are collected every second day. At this stage, they are shriveled which is the best condition for manufacturing. For the fresh market, the fruits are harvested when ripe just before shriveling. Growing sweet yellow passion plant/vine is a good economic opportunity in Kenya. 

Our Products and Services 

We offer the following products and services at affordable fees.

1. Agribusiness plans preparation
2. Agribusiness information e-manuals

AGRIBUSINESS PLANS PREPARATION

An Agribusiness Plan is the road-map to success in any farming business. An Agribusiness Plan preparation is therefore crucial for success of any farming business. This is the document which will support your agribusiness to grow, seek funding from financial institutions and/or donors, and monitor performance over a period of time for continuous improvement. Agribusiness plan is a management tool which will help you to avoid expensive mistakes in your farming business. FAILURE TO PLAN IS PLANNING TO FAIL. MAKE SURE YOU PREPARE AN AGRIBUSINESS PLAN BEFORE STARTING YOUR FARMING BUSINESS.The second important milestone is to get the right technical information.
 

AGRIBUSINESS INFORMATION E-MANUALS

a)       Watermelon farming e-manual 

b)       Dairy Farming e-manual

c)       Passion fruit farming e-manual

d)      Strawberry farming e-manual

g)      Tomatoes farming e-manual

h)      Capsicum farming e-manual

i)       Greenhouse farming e-manual

j)       Oyster mushroom Farming e-manual

k)      Tissue culture Bananas farming e-manual

l)       Upland arrowroot, Cassava, Sweet potatoes and yams e-manual

m)    Poultry Broilers, layers and improved indigenous/ Kienyeji e-manual

n)    Value addition and Agro-processing e-manual:The e-manual contains Manufacture of Fruit juices, yogurt, Fruit Jam, Small scale ice-cream making ,Tomato sauce processing, bread baking & cakes baking, cake decoration, vegetable solar drying,  Banana crisps and flour processing, cassava fermenting and flour processing, Soya milk and peanut butter processing.    

Email yagrein@gmail.com for more information

SOYA YOGHURT DELIVERY TO OUR NAIROBI CLIENTS

We are now delivering our freshly prepared, hygienically packed Soya yoghurt to our Nairobi clients on Thursdays between 9.30am to 10.00am, at the Ngara stage. We have three fine flavours of our soy yoghurt namely strawberry, vanilla and passion fruit. We deliver a minimum of 5 litres. Some clients send motorbike couriers to collect their package and it has worked well.If interested, kindly Email yagrein@gmail.com.

https://yagrein.blogspot.co.ke/p/plant-spacing.html

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Nursery establishment for Passion fruit growing in Kenya

Passion fruit is a climbing plant or vine widely grown in Kenya for fresh consumption and delicious juice extraction and grown from seed or grafting. There are many passion fruit species, nevertheless only two species are edible i.e. Passiflora endulis and the giant granadilla passiflora quandrangularis. Passiflora edulis is more common and has two distinct types namely the purple or yellow passion. The purple passion is more suited for fresh consumption while the yellow passion fruit is more suited for juice production. Two methods of growing used are seed and grafting. Growing from Seed is carried out using fresh seed from the fruit as old seed does not germinate well. Seedlings should bee produced in an area where rain can be kept off.

Growing passion fruit from seed

·        Choose a well developed ripe fruit from the vine. Wash the contents to separate seed and pulp, and then dry the seed in the shade as seed germination can be reduced by drying in the full sun.

·         Germination may be improved by softening the seed coat by allowing the seed together with the pulp to ferment for 1 to 3 days in a plastic container. The passion seed is then thoroughly washed, dried and sown as soon as possible. Germination can also be improved by priming which is soaking the seed in warm water for one hour before planting.

·        Water the seeds using a fine mist from a hand held sprayer or watering can. Continue watering about twice a day ensuring good drainage of excess water.

·        Passion fruit seed can be planted in trays or seedbed. Once germinated and having two true leaves they are transplanted to bags or bigger trays to ensure more space so that the root do not become entangled as the seedling grows.

·        Harden off the final seedlings before they are transplanted to the field by setting them out of the shade in thegrowing area for 2-3 days in advance.

·        Select only the vigorously growing seedlings which are dark green and free from nematodes and fungal diseases. They should not be stunted and leaves should be free of any deformity.  

Graft propagation of passion fruit

Grafting is an important means of perpetuating hybrids as well as reducing pest and diseases damage, by using resistant passion fruit rootstock.

·        Rootstock material should be planted in a separate area to avoid crossing with other fruit cultivars through cross pollination.

·        Scion material is best obtained from young seedlings planted for this purpose

·        Seed to grafting stage can take two months and from grafting to planting one month

Cleft or wedge grafting

This is the most efficient method of grafting.

1.      Select two seedlings to be grafted with the same thickness of stem each about ‘pencil thick’ to make the grafting easier.

2.      Cut off the top of the rootstock seedling at a suitable height about 20-25cm with a sharp knife remove the leaves from the rootstock at the grafting point but retain the leaves below.

3.      Make a split 23-40mm long in the cut end of the rootstock

4.      use tip scions 5-8cm long with the terminal leaves still attached

5.      Cut the scions with the wedge the same length as the split in the stock and insert to the full length of the cut. use grafting tape or plastic to hold the union

6.      Do not remove the binding tape until the union has grown together

7.      It takes about 2 months for the union to grow together and the passion fruit seedling to grown enough for transplanting.

Planting time

 For seed produced seedlings transplant tray grown seedlings to the field at 30 days while those raised in bags are transplanted at 45 days, when they are around 150mm in height.For grafted passion fruit seedlings transplant to the field at 45 days.For more information http://yagrein.blogspot.com/2012/06/passion-fruits-growing-in-kenya.html

      

    

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Passion fruits growing in Kenya [Passiflora spp]

Passion fruits are used for extraction of delicious juice, flavouring salads or they may be eaten fresh on their own. There are two major varieties of passion fruits plants grown in Kenya namely Passiflora edulis and Passiflora flavicarpa. Passiflora edulis is purple in colour when ripe,very acidic, and variable in taste and juiciness, with intense aromatic scent and round shape. passiflora flavicarpa is yellow when ripe and oval in shape. There are many selections and hybrids with the yellow passiflora flavicarpa, which are bigger, with similar taste but possibly less aromatic and more acidic. Both varieties are green before ripening. The Purple passion fruits/passiflora edulis are subtropical while yellow passion fruits are more suited to the tropics and grow well in tropical countries like Kenya. Passiflora flavicarpa are the most widely grown passion fruits for commercial purposes globally. They are grown for the local and export market in Kenya.

Requirements for growth are warm to cool climate, altitude range of 1000-2000M with minimum rainfall of 900mm per year, medium textured deep well drained loamy soils and a growing site which is protected from strong winds. Commercial life of passion fruits is about 5 years. Therefore initial land preparation should be deep to allow good root establishment and growth. The passion fruits are grown from seeds. Passion fruits seeds have low viability and should be planted within 3 months of extraction. A single piece can yield as many as 250 small hard dark-brown or black seeds. Soak the seeds for 48 hours to improve germination, prepare a seedbed one meter wide, sow seeds in furrows 30cm apart and cover lightly with soil and apply vegetation mulches. The mulches should be removed after germination. Thin seedlings to 5cm apart when they are 5cm high; Top-dress with 300gm CAN fertilizer per 4 square metres to stimulate rapid growth. The recommended field spacing is 2M× 3M in un-mechanized growing and 3M× 3M in mechanized growing giving plant population of 1600plants/ha and 1100plants/ha respectively. One month after transplanting passion fruits seedlings, application of 120g CAN, fertilizer is recommended .Subsequent fertilizer applications during the life of the crop have not shown growth improvement.

Dig holes at 45× 45cm at least 3 weeks before transplanting into the growing field and separate top soil and subsoil. Mix the top soil with 10kg of manure and 125gm of D.A.P fertilizer. Fill the hole with this mixture using extra top soil if necessary. Transplant the seedlings at the beginning of rains early in the morning or late evening and at the same depth as they were in the nursery. Apply water to settle the soil around the roots, and shade the seedlings in hot areas. Passion fruits are climbing plants and hence trellis for support should be constructed before transplanting. To construct the trellis 2.70M long posts with a diameter of 15cm are placed in holes 60cm deep and spaced 6M apart in the row, fixing the end posts firmly in the ground. Stretch a single strand wire tightly along the top of each row of posts. The whole structure should be capable of withstanding the subsequent weight of the crop. Training should be done to allow the vine to climb upon the trellis wire. Sisal twine is tied at the base of each plant to the wire above. Two healthy shoots of the plant are selected at the base of the plant and trained by twisting them up the sisal twine. All other shoots and side branches below the wire are removed regularly. When the two main shoots reach the wire they are trained along it by twisting and tying.

Passion fruits pruning involves regular removal of tendrils which causes the vine to entangle, to ensure that lateral side branches hang down freely. Any side lateral trailing on the ground should be cut back 15cm from the ground. After harvest side laterals should be cut back to a newly developing laterals as close to the main leader as possible. Where no new side shoots have formed the exhausted lateral should be cut at 3^rd to 5^th node from the main leader. Keep the field free of weeds all the time and you may intercrop with a low growing annual crop during the first year. Irrigation will keep the crop growing and flowering throughout most of the year increasing yields. Passion fruits come into maturity 6-8 months after transplanting. The main harvest is obtained 12-13 months after planting. Pick only ripe purple passion fruits from the vine. The economic life of a well maintained orchard is about 5 years. There normally two passion fruits harvesting peaks in Kenya which are July-August and December-January. Pests of economic importance destroying various plant parts include Kenya mealy bug, giant coreid bug, stink bugs, aphids, yellow mites and systate weevil. These should be controlled using suitable methods. Woodiness is a viral disease of passion fruits which retards growth and it’s controlled by uprooting and burning affected plants with immediate effect. Brown-spot is a fungal disease of passion fruits controlled by application of fungicides.

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