Peter Wambugu Kago went for his first apple propagation materials in the Aberdare Forest. This was in a desperate move to salvage a tender he had won at Mt. Kenya Safari Club in Nanyuki for the supply of fruits.
Though he still lost the tender, he today makes millions of shillings per year from the fruit which people doubted could grow in Kenya in the first place.
His success was after improving the two local varieties of apple with those from Israel and South Africa following years of research.
Today, prominent people from various parts of the world visit his home in Ihwa Village in Tetu sub-county, Nyeri County, not only to buy the fruit but also seedlings and seek technical advice on apple husbandry.
Wambugu had trained as a mechanic through apprentice in Nyeri Town streets after working as a farmhand for several years following completion of primary school education in 1976.
He ventured into apple business after he landed a tender at Mt. Kenya Safari Club. He initially bought the imported South African variety as no apples were grown locally.
“I needed 11 fruits to make a kilo and after much thought, I found out that I was operating at a loss. So, I had to stop supplying the fruits and look for much bigger fruits which would earn me good profit,” he said.
He resolved that growing his own apples was the only way he could meet the market demand and make a profit.
A Godsend woman
One morning, a lady acquittance informed him that there were wild apples in Aberdare forest. No one really knows how they came to be but the theory is that they were planted during the struggle for independence by either the Mau Mau fighters or the white settlers. Aberdare Forest, just like Mt. Kenya were theatres of the independence war.
At the forest, he found the apples ripe for harvesting but after delivering them at the club, he was informed that they had a sour taste.
He never lost hope but went back home with propagation materials and grafted them with varieties from Israel and South Africa given to him by a friend.
“I first started by growing 12 trees whose fruits were readily accepted in the market due to their sweetness. This motivated me to plant more trees,” says Wambugu.
“By then, I had already lost the tender as I could not meet their demand, but I resolved to keep on trying and propagated even more seedlings.”
The result was an oval-shaped fruit unlike South Africa’s which is round in shape. When it matured, he found out that it was sweeter and bigger in size and took only three to four fruits to make a kilo.
He started selling the fruits at Sh100 per fruit which was rated positively by Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO). The research body named the apple Wambugu Apple as it was a unique variety.
It was at this point that he decided to uproot his 400 coffee bushes and planted apples in his 1.75-acre land where he has planted over 1,000 apple trees.
This is because apples earned him a lot more compared to what he got from coffee, a move he has never regretted taking.
“When I first told people that I grew apples in my farm, they did not believe me at first and had to follow me into my farm to confirm my claims,” he says.
“Many people to date do not believe that apples can do well in Kenya as they are used to taking imported fruits from South Africa, Israel or other parts of the world,” he says.
He sells his fruits mostly at a supermarket in Karen in Nairobi at Sh400 per kilo. The buyer exports them.
His work is not without downsides. Though he is regarded as the best producer in the country, he has been unable to meet the market demand which has resulted in the loss of tenders.
Some Americans, Japanese and British nationals had proposed to enter into a deal where he would be supplying 50 containers but he had no capacity to meet the demand.
Wambugu who has grown the fruits since 1991 says the way forward is to embark on a campaign to have as many farmers as possible grow the fruit so that together they can meet the big demand.
“I have managed to buy 23 acres of land from the proceeds I get from apples in Laikipia County in which I also plan to put under the apple. I estimate that I will have close to 20,000 apple bushes,” he says.
An acre can hold 610 fruit trees planted at a spacing of 8.5 by 8.5 feet. He also sells seedling at Sh1,000 each and also offers consultancy services to farmers.
How to plant an apple tree
To plant apples, a farmer should dig a hole at a spacing of 8.5 feet from one tree to another and the same measurements between rows. The hole should be about two by two feet.
“The soil is then mixed with a bucket of well-decomposed manure and returned into the hole. About 20 liters of water is added into the hole with the mixture and the seedling planted,” he advises.
Diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertilizer should also be added and be mixed properly with the soil to boost the growth of roots.
After planting, he advises farmers to apply mulch on top to reduce evaporation of water.
The seedling should be watered twice in a week in about three months to increase chances of tree survival.
After three months, DAP fertilizer should be added and in about nine months, the tree should be in a position to produce 20 fruits in the first harvest and 200 during the second season.
This means having planted the Wambugu apple variety, one can earn over 20,000 per tree in the second harvest.
Two to three buckets of well-decomposed manure should be applied twice in a year – after every six months.