Avocado farmers from Murang’a county made close to KSH 7 Billion from the sale of the “golden fruit” in the year 2019, Murang’a governor Mwangi wa Iria has revealed.

By the end of last year, Murang’a had registered over 100,000 farmers with mature avocado trees, and today the number have enormously grown to over 250,000 according to statistics from the county.

Speaking at a Thika hotel over the weekend, the second-term governor said the foundation that the county has laid on avocado farming will see the farmers reap big in the next two and a half years.

“Last year, we gave a million seedlings to our farmers, we are trying to create an opportunity whereby two and a half years down the road, Murang’a farmers will be earning KSH 20B through avocado,” he affirmed.

The tough talking governor was having a meeting with exporters of the fruit and other stakeholders, where they resolved to launch a cooperative that will protect farmers from spiteful exploitations.

According Wa Iria, avocado brokers in the name of exporters hit hard the market last year leaving some farmers into counting losses after selling a piece at KSH 5/=, a fruit that could cost at least KSH 20/= if the farmers were protected.

“We have about five exporters whose lowest price per fruit was KSH 20/= and the highest KSH 48/= but then we had others who were buying a fruit at KSH 5/= and exporting it for 48 shillings and so to protect the farmer, we are kicking them out and therefore every exporter buying avocado in the county must come through the county government,” the county boss reiterated.

However, the exporters in the meeting protested and challenged the quality of Kenyan avocados claiming that farmers are always in a haste to harvest immature fruits consequently sabotaging the quality. But the buyers are ready to adhere to Murang’a county rules if only the on-demand fruit meets the international standards.

“We have a ready market for avocado that can pay very high prices if only the quality is high and the standards are met,” George Kamau, who works with an avocado buying company, said.

The Avocado Society of Kenya led by the general manager Mr. Ernest Muthomi vowed to bring the farmers together and educate them on how and when to reap the fruit.

“As the society we will improve the quality of our avocados and make sure the world enjoys and prefers Kenyan avocados just like in coffee and tea, we have to raise the bar in terms of quality,” Muthomi promised.

Shocking reports from Murang’a county indicates that avocado farming have overhauled coffee with 250,000 farmers compared to 70,000 registered coffee farmers.

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