Muranga County has entered into a deal with Two companies which are buying Mangoes at 16 per Kg, up from 4 bob.

This is after aggregating farmers into a Cooperative called Lower Muranga Farmers Cooperative to bargain better.

According to Governor Irungu Kang’ata, the county goverment of Muranga entered a deal with Kelvian Ltd and Sunny Mango Ltd.

The Governor according to his Facebook page fulfilled his 3 key promises to mango farmers in Muranga that includes:-

Formed Lower Muranga Farmers Cooperative to aggregate farmers.
Negotiated agreements with Mango processors Kelvian Ltd and Sunny Mango Ltd.
Uplift farmers incomes.

Mango Farming In Muranga – Kenya

Kenya’s mango industry has a key competitive advantage that makes its value proposition unique to the market. The Muranga County prides itself in having one of the longest mango seasons that ranges from October to March (High season) and another shorter season that ranges from April to June covering mainly the Coastal region.

Mango Faming does well in low land to upper midland areas. Most suitable areas in Kenya include coastal areas, Murang’a, Thika,Taveta, Lower Embu, Machakos, Makueni and Kitui. Main fruit seasons in Kenya are from November to April and May to July.

Mangoes are easy to grow unlike other type of fruits which require a lot of attention. They do well in loam and sandy soils and do not require much water, except during the initial stages of planting. They are fairly resistant to drought and average distributed rainfall is adequate for proper plant development.

Mangoes are first planted as seeds where they are watered and fertilized with manure and DAP to achieve a healthy rootstock. Proper seedlings which have green healthy foliage and buds with no diseases and rot are selected and used as rootstock. Between six months to one year, they are grafted with a carefully selected scion from a successful grafted mango tree that produces regular quality fruits and flowers.

Grafted mango trees take close to three to four years to be ready for fruiting and fruits can be harvested for a period of four months, every season. “On average, a single tree in this farm can yield to a maximum of 500 fruits in a season.

The harvesting time in Murang’a is from December to March but its peak season is January.

To attain bumper harvest, good management is followed to the latter. This entails pruning to remove excess and diseased branches. Spraying regularly to control mites and white flies as well as erecting traps to control flies and other insects.

Apart from mango farming Muranga County has diversified and is the leading producer of Hass Avocado in Eastern Africa.