The area in Kenya under commercial avocado production is increasing steadily. In 2015, the acreage under avocado was 13,305Ha. Last year, the area almost doubled to more than 20,000Ha. Kenya is now the top avocado exporter in Africa.
Avocado Growing Areas in Kenya
Most of the Kenyan avocado farmers are found in:
- Murang’a
- Nyeri
- Kiambu
- Kisii
- Meru
- Mt Kenya region
These areas produce the sweetest Kenyan avocados because of their cool climate and warm temperatures.
The other regions that avocado farming is taking shape include:
- Nandi
- Bomet
- Uasin Gishu
- Trans Nzoia
- Bungoma
- Siaya
Avocado Exports from Kenya
The leading export varieties from Kenya are Hass and Fuerte. Kenya also exports indigenous varieties like Jumbo. Kenya does value addition by processing avocado oil.
Kenya has started exporting frozen avocados to China.
Challenges in Avocado Farming in Kenya
- Poor quality avocado seedlings grow into trees with poor yields. Some of the seedlings don’t even grow into mature trees.
- Pests and diseases
The major pests that affect avocado trees are:
- Fruit flies
- Thrips
- False codling moth
- Scales
The main diseases that affect avocado trees are:
- Root rot
- Anthracnose
- Cercospora Fruit Spot
- Scab
Farmers who have little, or no knowledge of the type of pesticides they should use to prevent pest infestation and control disease, suffer immensely due to harvest shrinkage. Pesticides that have been banned can lead to environmental pollution.
- Poor avocado harvesting methods with the wrong equipment or little equipment results in damage of fruits.
- Poor infrastructure in rural areas makes it difficult and costly to transport produce from the farm to distant markets.
- Limited access to production technologies and institutional support such as credit and training. This has pushed many small holder avocado farmers out of the value chain.
- Many avocado farmers in Kenya have small tracts of land which reduces their income from productive avocado farming.
- Lack of enough capital makes it difficult for small holder farmers to meet the high costs of proper harvesting and transportation.
- Farmer’s organization costs such as membership fees are too high for many small scale avocado farmers.
- Huge cost of fertilizer, labor and pesticides
- Adverse weather conditions such as drought or excessive rainfall affect production.
Improving the Avocado Sector in Kenya
- Farmers should intercrop avocados with other cash crops because it improves the fertility of the soil. This results in higher avocado yields.
- The government and other stakeholders should be involved in the distribution of certified seedlings of the preferred varieties.
- Encouraging small holder farmers to join or form farmers’ group. The benefits of a farmers’ group are:
- Easy access to marketing services
- Networking
- Bargaining for better prices
- Helps farmers meet export standards required in European markets
- The government and exporters should increase training of modern avocado farming practices. Training gives farmers necessary skills and knowledge for produce of avocado that meets export standards.
- Introduction of avocado harvesters through farmer marketing organizations reduces the cost of harvesting. They will also reduce incidences of fruit loss due to handling damages caused by hand pickers.
- The government should encourage young people to engage in avocado farming. Because they have high potential of learning new technologies on avocado farming.
- Increased trainings on avocado marketing will help farmers participate more in export markets.
- The government should formulate policies that protect farmers from exploitation by avocado traders in the domestic markets and export markets.
- Small scale growers should be informed on how to use weather data for their selected growing areas.
- The national and the county governments should strengthen farmer marketing institutions. This will attract more farmers to trade through farmer marketing organizations.
- The government should encourage more small scale avocado growers to engage in contract farming and connect them to exporters.