Original Story Published by: Staff Writer for Fresh Plaza
Photo Source: ©sandid/Unsplash
Mexico, Peru and Chile have experienced a considerable increase in the export of avocado in recent years. A country reporting similarly impressive growth figures is Kenya. In 2017, 166 per cent more was exported than in 2013, amounting to 78,000 tonnes. Because of this, the export of the East African country increased faster in percentages than the export of Mexico in that same period. The government in Nairobi encourages the production and export. How large is production? How quickly is export increasing? What about worries about quality of European importers? We investigated.
“This is a continuing process, but in the past ten years the sector experienced a rapid growth,” says Paul Kyalo, Operations Manager for BioFarms. Although there are differences in the avocado figures offered by databases, the trend is obvious: production and export from Kenya are growing. “Avocado is an important commercial fruit that is mostly grown by small and mid-sized growers in Kenya,” Paul explains. “The biggest varieties we grow for export are Hass, Pinkerton and Fuerte.” Besides, Puebla, Duke and G6 are also grown. “The domestic market mostly asks for these varieties,” Paul explains. “Hass and Fuerte are mostly grown for export.” Kenyans consume avocados as fruit, but also process them into juice or they use them as vegetables.
Because the season lasts from March until August, this is a gold mine for the Kenyan sector. Traditionally, supply is particularly difficult in Europe in the first few months of the Kenyan season. A short season follows in October and December. In that second part of the season, it’s mostly the western part of the country that’s on the market, in Nyanza and the Rif Valley. Surrounding countries, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi, have similar seasons, but Paul mentions that export from these countries isn’t very well developed yet.
