K24 Journalist Who Turned to Farming After Unceremonious Firing

Employment life in the 21st Century is a very delicate path to tread and calls for utmost preparation and willingness to jump into any career, in case an axe befalls on you.

This is what happened to a former K24 TV journalist, Caleb Karuga, who jumped right into farming after he was unceremoniously dismissed from his job as a cameraman and later a reporter.

In 2013, the scribe was among some 70 employees who were dismissed from Mediamax Limited, for being declared redundant, shortly after the media house raided Citizen TV for reporters.

His road to the screen and eventually to running Wendy Farms was not easy. First, Karuga dropped out of university but was lucky enough to get a job at K24 TV, only to be dismissed.

Former K24 TV journalist on his chicken farm.

When he ventured into full-time farming, he did not have enough capital to run the entire operation.

He, therefore, started leasing land for as little as Ksh 10,000 a whole year. "I had read articles on agriculture and it was going to be easy I thought," Karuga opined.

At first, the going was rough as he tried three different types of farming without succeeding, until he realised one thing, "I was trying sexy farming not research."

He tried rearing catfish, pigs, strawberry farming and at some point, even entered the quail business.

After doing thorough research, he settled on products like chicken and vegetables, that are somewhat a staple for Kenyans, and has never regretted since.

Former K24 TV journalist Caleb Karunga holding some of his produce.

"Today, I am in kienyeji (local) chicken farming and vegetable farming. I realised that most people eat ugali with vegetables and I planted managu,(nightshade) sukumawiki (collard greens) and spinach. 

"I started understanding the market. I stopped farming by Google and started listening and observing more," he recounted.

According to previous reports, the journalist was not happy with his career in media and had contemplated walking out for a year, to start his own farm.

Below is a video of Kiruga on his farm:

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