Arrowroot (nduma) farming FAQ for Kenya

Best practice on our farms: well-decomposed goat or cow manure. Put about 500 g per hole at planting, then add goat/cow manure again after 2 weeks.

Avoid chicken and pig manure on arrowroots. They suit many vegetables, but on nduma they often mean poor tuber bulking and weak returns.

Read: How to fertilize arrowroot for optimal growth.

Yield is not one fixed number for every shamba. It swings with water, manure quality, pest pressure, and harvest timing.

What we fix first is plant population: at 50 cm × 40 cm, plan about 20,000 suckers per acre. Weak irrigation can remove roughly 30% of potential yield.

Budget plants and water before you chase tonnage claims online. See profitability guide.

Open-market prices vary by season and location. From our farm, fresh Dasheen nduma for cooking is Ksh 120 per kg. Planting suckers are priced separately at Ksh 10 each (minimum 500 pieces).

See fresh nduma for cooking and suckers and seedlings.

No crop wins everywhere. Profit is market + water + your management. Nduma can work well when you control irrigation and sell quality half-kilo tubers, but only after you pay for suckers, manure, and labour.

Start with a realistic plant budget (min 500 suckers for trials; ~20,000 for an acre) using our acre packages.

Dasheen: 6–8 months with proper water - typically the shortest among common arrowroots. Do not dig early. The final two months harden tubers so they cook properly.

Deep loams that hold moisture yet drain excess storms. Dasheen handles upland and lowland if irrigation is planned. Permanent swamp is not required. Permanent flooding is still a risk.

Guide: How to plant arrow roots in dry areas.

Cooked nduma is everyday food for many Kenyans. Overeating dense starch can cause fullness or bloating in some people. Individual allergies or medical diets differ.

This is not a drug leaflet. See a health professional for personal side-effect questions.

Easier when you start with clean Dasheen suckers, dig 20–30 cm holes, use goat/cow manure, mulch, and water for 6+ months. Harder if you skip water or plant weak material.

Order: Nduma seedlings for sale in Kenya.

Mainly as a cooking staple: boiled, mashed, or hotel plates. Dasheen’s ~0.5 kg tubers suit bulk kitchen buyers. Not the same crop as cassava flour chains or true yam dishes.

We make no kidney treatment claims. Nduma is food. Kidney disease needs clinical care and personalised diet advice from a doctor or renal dietitian.

As part of a varied diet, cooked nduma can be a useful energy food. “Healthy or unhealthy” depends on portions and the rest of your plate. It is not a superfood cure and not inherently “bad.”

Nduma / Kenyan arrowroots (Dasheen type): usually Colocasia esculenta - broad leaves, corms, our sucker crop.

Cassava: Manihot esculenta - shrubby plant, long roots, different agronomy and processing.

Yams (true): Dioscorea - climbing vines, different tubers. Markets sometimes mix names casually; botanically they are distinct.

Full article: Nduma vs yams vs cassava.

Arrowroots Farming Kenya - Dasheen suckers/seedlings at Ksh 10 each, minimum 500 pieces.

Meru pickup · Nairobi collection · delivery on request · WhatsApp 0725431452.