Teresia Nyambura: A woman from Muranga who resigned from her job to start an avocado farm for export to the European Union.

East African Avocado Millionaires( Courtesy Zenger. News)

Teresia Nyambura of Kahethu village, Kihumbuini, Murang’a, shifted to Hass avocados for greater profits, like many other farmers in the county.

Hass avocado is one of the fruits in demand on the market, and it will be the greatest sooner or later. Its popularity is skyrocketing.

Teresia, who worked as a data entry clerk at a factory for 11 years, decided to try her hand at avocado growing. She began with avocados from Fuerte.

“I had ten trees that I grafted with Hass later.” So far, I have around 20 trees,” she adds, noting that the market was not favourable at the time, since they sold fruit for Sh1-Sh2.50 to intermediaries.

Teresia later joined Kihoto-Kihumbuini, a self-help group that helps avocado producers connect with the market.

According to Francis Njoroge, the group’s chair, the association connects farmers with corporations that export horticulture goods for competitive markets.

Members of the cooperative sell their produce to Kakuzi Plc, which sells it to the European Union and other markets.

Learn more: https://farmerstrend.co.ke/fruits/success-stories-of-kenyan-farmers-who-shifted-to-hass-avocado-farming/

Avocados have drawn numerous producers in the county due to low coffee and tea prices and a ready export market for the fruit.

“We collaborate with 3,500 avocado growers in Mt Kenya and the North Rift, many of whom cultivate the Hass avocado cultivar. Farmers from Kisii and the western areas of the nation also supply fruit to our packhouse,” says Jonathan Kipruto, Kakuzi’s assistant general manager for horticulture.

To sell firm fruits to the export market, one must be verified and fulfil Horticultural Crops Directorate (HCD) and Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services criteria (KEPHIS).

It is not surprising, then, that avocado farming ticks lots of boxes in our 2030 Vision and most recently in Uhuru’s Big 4.

Avocado is the second Kenyan farm product to enter the lucrative Chinese horticulture market, following Stevia, and will be followed by 13 other high-value farm products, including flowers, mangoes, French beans, peanuts, vegetables, livestock, herbs, Bixa, and macadamia.