Pixie Orange Farming, Juicy Opportunity For Fruit Farmers In Kenya

The pixie orange is from the Mandarin or Tangerine family of citrus fruits. Pixie oranges are orange in color and without seeds, they vary in peel texture, shape, and size.

Since pixie farming first began in the Eastern region to be specific Makueni county, many farmers have adopted it which in return has attracted much profits for them by selling the fruits and the seedlings.This is explained and illustrated by the Rota Agrifarm and Farmers Trend companies which mainly deal with fruit production and pixie orange seedlings.This companies have encouraged farmer’s in most parts of Kenya to actively take part in pixie fruit farming.

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.

The yellow-orange fruit is mistaken for normal oranges but in the case of Justus Kimeu, a large-scale farmer of pixie crops in Makueni, the rare fruits yield more profit as opposed to oranges.

“Pixie does very well in arid and semi-arid areas. Further, the prices per kilogram of pixie fruits are three times higher than for oranges. When oranges are retailing at Ksh50 per kilogram, pixie retails at Ksh150 making it a highly profitable business”

He noted that he had ventured into orange farming at first but it did not yield the desired profits- which later led to him considering planting pixie fruits.

Kimeu pointed out that the said fruits attain their maturity age within 18 months, whereby the farmers can start earning the income.

“In the case of cross-cutting, depending on whether you’re doing it for rainfed, or irrigation, give it a maximum of 250 trees since some areas might be dry and multiply it with the retail price of Ksh150 per kilo, you get Ksh37,500 pixie yield per acre.

Kimeu has 6.5 acres in which he has planted pixie, tangerine, and Washington native plants. Out of these fruits, he pointed out that pixie yields the highest amount of profit.

“Talk of ten tonnes of pixie from an acre of land, multiply it with Ksh150 per kilogram, you get Ksh1.5 million sales for the harvest, that is good money and note we have gone with the lowest number of pixies per acre,” Kimeu stated.

He noted that for oranges to yield the same results, a farmer would have to harvest 30 tonnes from their land.

Requirements for pixie growing

Pixie thrives in arid and semi-arid areas although it performs best in sandy soils. For optimum performance, they ought to be grown in well-drained soils with a 6.5-7.3 pH range.

The fruits thrive in ideal temperatures. The plants are, however, sensitive to extremely low or high temperatures.

The fruits grow well in altitudes of up to 2,100 meters above sea level,,

During planting

When planting pixie orchards, proper spacing should be considered (a spacing of four meters by five meters for an acre of land.)

The holes should have a diameter of two feet by two feet and two feet deep.

The topsoil should be mixed with manure in order to improve soil fertility, drainage and aeration. Mulching and planting of the cover crops is encouraged to minimise the growth of weeds.

Pixie Seedlings

Pixie seedlings can be obtained at Farmers Trend nurseries by contacting 0724-559286 or 0790-509684. We sell quality grafted pixie orange seedlings and offer agronomy support.