Capsicum - Known as Pilipili Hoho in Swahili

Commonly known in Kenya as Hoho/ Pilipili Hoho, Sweet Pepper is a niche that is yet to be fully exploited. Actually all, nearly all farming activities are heavily underutilized in Kenya with the demand for agricultural products on the rise.

Hoho does well under irrigation and in areas with an average temperature of between 15 degrees and 5 degrees. In the seed bed, capsicum takes approximately 21 days to be ready for transplanting to the farm. Here, capsicum will take approximately 90 days to mature and be ready for harvesting.

Above - a capsicum seed-bed

The recommended spacing for Hoho is 75 cm by 45 cm which means that an acre of land would accommodate roughly 10,000 plants of capsicum.   Each plant would the yield around 10 heads that means that one would be expecting around 100,000 heads in the end of the season. The market prices of capsicum would rage heavily on the size of these heads, period of time and the place where one chooses to sell their products. However, assuming that one is able to produce considerably large heads and sells them in an urban area, each head could fetch between 3-7 shillings each. This means that one can fetch between 300,000 – 700,000 shillings at the end. Colored pepper would fetch much more prices than green ones in the same market.

Above - Capsicum after transplanting from the seed-bed

For one acre, 0.5 kgs of seeds would be enough for planting if one opts to first grow them in a nursery while the same piece of land would require around 1kg of seeds if they are sown directly to the land. After the seedlings have developed four true leaves, they are then transplanted into the farm. When planting in the farm, it is necessary that one uses manure which would be around 10,000 kg per acre – this would mean that each plant gets around 2 handfuls of manure together with double super phosphate fertilizer where around 250 kg would be enough for one acre.  When they grow to around 15 cm, around 100 kg per acres of C.A.N fertilizer should be applied and double amount of the same fertilizer should be applied one month later. The total cost of production should be around 150,000 shillings for the same acre of land. Simple math gives us at least an income of 150,000 shillings from the one acre of capsicum in one season.

Above – mature capsicum plants

Above - Capsicum heads ready for picking.

Just like any other type of farming, capsicum farming in Kenya is faced by some challenges with the main ones being pests and diseases. One of them is early/late bright also called Baridi in Swahili. This one causes the leaves to fold something that hinders photosynthesis thus less production. In green houses, there is little chance of such a disease in capsicum. Some major pests in capsicum common in Kenya are spider mites that attack crops themselves, Thrips that attack flowers, and white flies.