Avocado markets in Kenya

$ 5 million avocado factory by Mwangi Mumero The Alivando Group of Companies is investing $ 5 million in the construction of an avocado factory in Murang’a County, Central Kenya. The factory which will take three years to complete will benefit many avocado farmers in the region who have to bear with low producer prices. Alivando chief executive Gary Hannan said that the company had engaged farmers in various parts of the province to improve production of avocado. Already, the firm has also contracted and trained 1,030 farmers to grow high quality avocado. The factory produces avocado oil, which is sold in the domestic and export markets where the demand is higher than the current production. The oil is mainly exported to the UK, Belgium, France, Holland, Russia and Germany and Asia. The new facility is expected to boost avocado earnings through value addition and benefit farmers. Over the years, the mainly smallholder farmers have been exploited by middlemen and brokers fleecing them of their labour with getting little income from their investment. “It will give us incentives to produce better quality avocadoes since we will be making better return. Previously we could only wait for our sweat to go down the drain with middlemen”, observed Kariuki Macharia, a smallholder farmer at Kiangunyi within the County. But even bigger farmers are elated with the prospects of an avocado factory. Simon Ngang’a King’ara of Ruiru Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who is also an avocado farmer, said that the factory will offer them better earnings compared to middlemen. With an avocado plantation of 7,000 trees, Mr. Simon Ng’an’ga from the neighbouring Kiambu County notes that the factory pays Ksh150 ($1.9) for a kilo of avocado fruit while the middlemen buy at Ksh80 ($ 1) - a better bargain for local farmers. The factory officials say that the region is better placed to produce high quality avocado products noting that those grown in hot, humid climates have saturated fat and too much wax for oil production. Central Kenya- hilly and rainy- provide suitable climate for avocado growing compared to other regions in the country. “To meet demand, Alivando needs upwards of 750,000 litres monthly. In the next five years, Kenya should be able to of produce 0.3 million litres of high quality avocado oil monthly for export and local consumption if farmers embrace the practice” Gary noted. Over the last few years, avocado production in the country has been on the rise. Reports indicate that in 2009, 2500 tonnes of avocadoes compared with 1800 tonnes the year before. Since the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) introduced the fruit in Central Kenya in the late 70’s the country has grown just two varieties. Hass, a warty, medium sized, roundish fruit that turns purple at full maturity, has a tough, pebbly skin, with an impressive shelf life. Fuerte, a Mexican-Guatemalan hybrid is a shiny-green, pear-shaped fruit that weighs 250 to 450 g with high oil content. More than four fifths of the trees in Kenya are Fuerte, which was in high demand in the late 1970s and early 1980s when most farmers were establishing their orchards. But market trends now favour Hass, with horticultural companies like Alivando Kenya and KARI encouraging farmers to plant Hass or invest in grafting services that change Fuerte into Hass. However, across both types of avocado the market is growing. The Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) has also been working at ways to increase the fruit’s shelf-life – from 5 to as many as 10 days – by slowing the production of the ethylene hormone responsible for its normal ripening. “Many of our avocados have been rotting in the farms or as they awaited being exported and that is bad for our exports. Everyday we are looking for new strategies to ensure our fruits stay a little longer and thus increase our exports,” notes Mr. Kori Njuguna, a fruit research coordinator at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). The Kenya Horticulture Competiveness Project released a report last year highlighting the scope for increased avocado exports to the EU, if current Kenyan production can be expanded. Demand for avocadoes in the European Union has recently shot by up to 23 per cent since 2006. This is attributed to increased awareness of the fruit and its potential uses and benefits. Producing countries such as South Africa, Chile, Israel and Peru have been among those recently been running consumer awareness campaigns in Europe. France is currently the largest EU consumer of avocados, and, along with Spain and Netherlands, is an important redistribution centre for the trade. Of the main African producer, Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon together accounted for 12 percent of world output in 2008, but at present Kenya’s share of the EU avocado market is currently at 7 percent. (ends)