These are small but very juicy fruits that come in two types passiflora edulis and Passiflora flavicarpa. Passiflora edulis is purple in colour when ripe, and are very acidic, and passiflora flavicarpa is the yellow passion fruit,which are oval in shape. There are many selections and hybrids with the yellow passion fruits, which are bigger, with similar taste though are more acidic. Both varieties are green before ripening. The Purple passion fruits are subtropical while yellow passion fruits are more suited to the tropics and grow well in tropical countries like Kenya. The purple passion fruits are the most widely grown passion fruits for commercial purposes globally. They are grown for both the local and export market in Kenya. Passion fruits can be used in various things such as making juice, baking cakes, frosting and making salads.
Passion fruits seeds have low viability and should be planted within 3 months of extraction. A single piece can yield as many as 250 small hard dark-brown or black seeds. Soak the seeds for 48 hours to improve germination, prepare a seedbed one meter wide,
Let’s go into how much one would need, to plant on a one acre piece of land
Ploughing |
Harrowing |
Seedlings(1kg) |
2500 |
3000 |
5400 |
NUSERY PREPARATIONS
LABOUR |
CHEMICALFOR SPRAYING(Starnadin) |
Labor for transplanting |
Weeding(4 times) |
Feeder poles( you will need 50) |
Wire (2 roles per |
Chemical for treatment |
1200 |
750 |
2200 |
800*4= 3200 |
400 *50 = 20000 |
3200*2= 6400 |
7000 |
Your total should be 51650
Depending on how you take care of your passion fruits, you should be harvesting at least 50kg per week, and if you sell 1kg at 100/= then in a month you should be getting 20000/= and within three months you should have recovered your 51650 and keep reaping for the rest of the year