Why Hass Avocado is the new Cash Crop

For many years, farmers in the central highlands of Kenya have depended on Coffee and tea farming as the main cash crops. Everything was going on well with farmers smiling to the banks until sometime back when prices plummeted to the great disappointment of coffee farmers in Kenya.

But just when doom seemed like the inevitable reality for these farmers, came the Hass avocado, a variety that has a high demand overseas. Hope has been rekindled and farmers’ accounts are now swelling since the export market is too hungry for this crop.

Hass avocado farming in Kenya is bigger than coffee. Any unit of the tree if appropriately managed will provide 1,000 fruits/tree a year. According to the current prices by for example Kakuzi Ltd, a single fruit sell between Ksh 10 and Ksh 20 and sometimes goes even beyond Ksh 30.

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With that, we can do a rapid calculation: an acre of avocado can have 150 trees well-spaced (17ft by 17 ft). If at full maturity a tree can give you 1000 fruits, and we assume the market is fair and a fruit goes for Ksh 15, it then means that 1000X15X150 = 2.25M per year

Keeping in mind the under-supplied market and the fact that avocado trees require little attention, this is a venture worth investing in. It takes only 2 -3 years to start harvesting.

Strict Requirements

Handle all avocados with great care! Export markets, especially the European market, have very strict quality requirements which smallholders may find difficult to meet. Local markets are less complicated but also tricky, because avocados tend to mature all at the same time, making it unprofitable for farmers to sell them.

It is almost impossible for farmers to store or process avocados. Commercial avocado growers must therefore be linked closely to a good market

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About Post Author

OxfarmAg

kahurodickson@gmail.com

http://www.oxfarmorganic.com/

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