Chief Administrative Secretary for Transport, Wavinya Ndeti, has is an established farmer who has invested millions of shillings in an extensive farm, which can be described as her side hustle.
Through a series of her social media posts, the former Machakos gubernatorial aspirant has portrayed her love for different types of farming activities that are earning her hundreds of thousands pers season.
From planting bananas, beans, maize, fruits, and different vegetables on her farm in Ukambani, she is also into rearing different types of animals.
Other crops she has grown for commercial purposes include cabbage, tomatoes, onions, peas among others.
Wavinya has managed to keep her venture moving in Ukambani, a region that is usually characterised by low rainfall making it hard for many farmers to thrive.
The Ukambani region regularly recurs as a classic example of land degradation in accounts dating back to the 1930s and state policies have continuously been devised to address this concern. Residents report frequent crop failures and water shortages, and food relief has become a permanent feature in the region.
The soils in the region are generally of low fertility, and many are highly erodible. But they are well-drained making it easy for any budding farmers like Wavinya to give it a try.
The area usually receives low rainfall but Wavinya has devised her own means of survival. With her extensive pieces of land, Wavinya has adopted drip irrigation in her farming venture.
Irrigation is the process of watering the crops in a controlled manner instead of fully depending on rainfall which is low as in the case of the Ukambani region. It is done by tailoring the amount of water to be used in each crop. Although it is somehow expensive to acquire irrigation equipment, the results are worth it.
The entire Wavinya farm is under irrigation. She recently planted onions, which according to her latest post, will be ready for harvesting in December this year.
Her passion for farming is derived from her father who also keeps large herds of cattle. The passion and drive running down in her family line, has catapulted her to earn from farming.
During her free time, Wavinya spends time supervising all operations on the farm and doing further inspections. She also inspires and markets products for budding farmers.
In her argument, farming is the only solution to handle hunger in the country.
"Investments in Agriculture are the best solution against hunger and poverty and they have made life better for billions of people," she stated in her past interview.
However, with her success stories painted all over her social media pages, she has not revealed how much she earns from the farming venture.
But even with all the earnings, farming remains just a side hustle. Wavinya is fully immersed into politics and in 2022, she is expected to make a comeback after failing to unseat the incumbent Machakos Governor, Alfred Mutua, in the 2017 General Election.
