HENRY NKONGE COFFEE STORY-MUKUNE
HENRY N’KONGE FINDS SUCCESS AMIDST DOWN CAST- MERU COFFEE FARMERS
Introduction
Continuous use of artificial fertilizers in the coffee farms with unmatched liming after main harvest seasons is the main cause of high acidic soils in Kenya. Mukune FCS farms are not any different as was observed in the cause of Touton Group /Servicoff LTD farmers support.
In a case study of soil pH measurement, 63% of the samples of 76 soil samples measured randomly in 2022 were found to be below the recommended soil pH of 6.5. Despite the fact that 14% (222 out of 1560) of Mukune active farmers population indicated that 97.3% of the population uses some form of nutrition like cow manure, CAN or any compound fertilizer in the coffee farm in a baseline study in the same year 2022, cherry production remained depressed at 1.03 kg of cherry per tree from all the farms visited.
Research elsewhere indicates that at 4.5 soil pH, 71.34% of all fertilizer is wasted and reduces consistently with reduced acidity as shown in the table below.
| Soil Acidity
pH |
Nitrogen
% |
Phosphorus
% |
Potash
% |
Av. Fertilizer wasted
% |
| 4.5 | 30 | 23 | 33 | 71.34 |
| 5.0 | 53 | 34 | 52 | 53.67 |
| 5.5 | 77 | 48 | 77 | 32.69 |
| 6.0 | 89 | 52 | 100 | 19.67 |
| 7.0 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 0 |
Table 1: Soil pH effect on plant nutrient absorption
This scenario is what Mr. Henry Nkonge was experiencing before the intervention through Touton /Servicoff interventions through training and farm visits. Continue reading his story to learn more.
Henry N’Konge’s Coffee Story
Born 58 years ago Henry N’konge is a father of 3 children and happily married to Marion NKinya.
He planted his 300 Ruiru 11 grafted coffee trees in 1988 while still in school and he has never looked back. Cherry production from his farm has been as indicated in Table 2 below. He delivers to Mukune FCS, Nkarine Factory. He excitedly says that despite the drought experienced in 2021/2022 crop year, he still managed 5 kilograms of cherry per tree.
| YEAR | CHERRY PRODUCTION | AVERAGE KG PER TREE |
| 2021/2022 | 1500 | 5 |
| 2021/2020 | 2000 | 6.6 |
| 2020/2019 | 2100 | 7 |
Table 2: Henry N’konge 3 years coffee production
Henry N’Konge says of Touton/Servicoff Project, “I didn’t know that managing soil pH through liming plays such a key role in the life cycle of cherry from the formation to ripening! Now I know it is the basis for adequate nitrogen or potassium or any other nutrient uptake for flowering, cherry formation to ripening. The knowledge of using foliar feeds to compensate for inadequate nutrient uptake through the roots during the dry weather conditions is good knowledge to a farmer at such a time when coffee farming as a business is being threatened by prolonged dry weather conditions.
With the knowledge, I expect to increase coffee production to 2300 kg in the upcoming 2nd crop 2022/2023. This translates to 7.6 Kg per tree. The hope of harvesting of up to 5000 kilograms of cherry is a reality. The future of coffee farming is bright. Thank you, Touton Group, and Servicoff LTD for rekindling a future hope in coffee farming that will benefit our children too.”
Henry keeps his coffee records well as captured below:
COFFEE RECORDS (To be inserted here when availed) NOT AVAILABLE YET
Henry N’Konge Successful Projects
He is proud to have achieved the following projects through coffee proceeds.
Education for his children
He has taken his three children through school and colleges. First born son is a graduate and is currently an Equity Bank Manger in Murang’a County. His second born, a girl is married and an entrepreneur. The last born is in form four.
Capital Investment
He has built 4 shops already through coffee incomes. Through these investments, he recalls his happiest moments being 2021/2022 2nd crop pay that was his highest in his life time at Kenya shillings 146,000 and he was able to build two shops at the same time. “This is a big achievement for a small scale farmer like me.” Henry says of his projects.
He was happy showing the location of the next shop. All the shops have already been leased.
