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: 17 July 2018; Hits: 15540

Good news for Kenyan farmers as global avocado prices double on high demand

The price of a standard box of 48 avocados in the international markets has risen from $37.25 (Sh3725) to $83.75 (Sh8375) over the last one year according to the American Restaurant Association. The rise is driven by high demand of the crop due to the health benefits.

In 2017, The Netherlands for instance imported 900,186 tonnes of avocados up from 820,775 tonnes in 2016. France on the other hand imported 145,813 tonnes up from 95,000 tonnes in 2016. The United Kingdom imported 383,736 tonnes in 2017 four times more than what it imported 17 years ago while China imported 32,100 tonnes up from 25,128 tonnes in 2016 and just 32 tonnes in 2011 an increase of over 1000 times.

Kericho farmers to adopt avocado farming to diversify their income

Fresh produce exporter buying avocados from all-comers

hass avocado selina wamucii

Kenyan farmers thus have a high chance of exporting the produce and earn more income from the crop. The country is currently the sixth largest exporter of the fruit in the world ranking behind Peru, Mexico, Dominican Republic, USA and South Africa in the international avocado export market.

Kenya’s dried avocado export has been rising, with the country selling 46.7 tons to the international market in 2016. The figure was higher by 7.8 tons than what was exported in 2015.

Kenya earned Sh6.5bn and Sh5.2bn in 2016 and 2015 from avocado exports respectively, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.

Currently, the the Kenya Avocado Society is in a fresh drive to recruit farmers to plant Hass avocado variety to meet the demand.

“We are recruiting farmers all over the country to plant avocados in a five year investment plan that is set to earn farmers more income than maize for instance while at the same time increasing forest cover in the currently from the current 6.2 per cent to 10 per cent,” said Meshack Kamau, the sales and marketing officer at the Kenya Avocado Society.

To join the society one has to pay an annual subscription fee of Sh1000 and will get seedlings at a subsidized price.

“We sell avocado seedlings to members at Sh200 compared Sh300 for non-members,” said Kamau.

According to the society, a farmer can plant 100 trees in a one acre piece of land.

In this, one tree can yield between 600 to 800 fruits per season meaning a farmer can harvest between 60,000 and 80,000 fruits per acre in two and half years’ time.

With each fruit retailing at an average of Sh50 a farmer can thus earn between three and four million shillings per acre per season.

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: 13 July 2018; Hits: 7798

Kenya's horticulture sector eyes Chinese market to boost revenues

flower expo Oshwal Centre

Kenya's horticulture sector is seeking to increase sales in the Chinese market in order to boost revenues. The market has been affected over the years by import duty by the Chinese government among other challenges.

On July 1, 2010, China removed tariffs charged on 60 per cent of goods that it imports from Kenya and 32 other developing countries but retained the levy on cut flowers which is mostly exported by the Kenyan flower sector.

The tax has dwindled aggressive marketing effort aimed at penetrating the 1.3 billion-people market.

Hosea Machuki, the CEO of the Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya, told a media briefing in Nairobi that currently less than two percent of horticultural exports are sold in China.

"We are therefore going to intensify marketing efforts in China in order to expand the horticultural sector revenues," Machuki said during a media briefing on the upcoming Kenya Trade Week that will take place from July 29 to Aug. 1.

The second edition of the Kenya Trade Week will showcase what Kenya has in stock for both the domestic and export market.

Government data indicates that the bulk of horticultural exports end up in the European Union and the rest goes to the Middle East, United States and Australia.

Machuki said Kenya will also take advantage of the high frequency of flights between Kenya and China to promote exports. He noted that Kenyan flowers and avocados could get a ready market in China.

Flower which is one of the top export commodity by Kenyan traders is a highly perishable good that must be sold two days after harvest. However, with the national carrier, Kenya Airways’ 13-hour direct flight to three Chinese cities — Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the traders are sure of exploiting the market.

In 2016, Kenya exported flowers worth Sh70.83 billion, majority of it destined to the EU markets where still enjoys a duty and quota-free export arrangement despite delay in concluding the Economic Partnership Agreement. Kenya also has a duty free flower arrangement with Japan.

Generally, horticulture sector growth was supported by notable increases in production of cut flowers, fruits and vegetables whose exports grew by 19.7, 16.8 and 10.7, per cent, respectively, in 2017, according to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics’ Economic Survey 2018 report.

This translated to a significant increase in the value of export of horticultural produce from KSh 101.5 billion in 2016 to KSh 115.3 billion in 2017.

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: 13 July 2018; Hits: 8012

Coffee prices up by 18 per cent at the Nairobi auction

Coffee prices have improved by 18 per cent from Sh11,000 per a 50kg bag to Sh13,000 recorded two months ago according to a market report by the Nairobi Coffee Exchange.

The rise in prices is attributed to production of high quality beans especially from Eastern Kenya brought for sale at the auction.

In the five months to June 2018, the price of a 50kg bag had dropped to Sh10,000 due to the coffee berry disease that affected farmers crops in the Central Kenya region.

Kenya’s Arabica coffee prices decreased by Sh1.4bn in the seven months to April this year compared to a similar period in 2017 according to data from the Nairobi Coffee exchange.

In this, the value of the crop reduced from Sh13.1bn to Sh11.7bn in the period under review.

Food and beverage company plans to improve coffee farmers\' yields

Coffee farmers switch to horticulture for profits

coffee farmer kenya

A Kenya coffee farmer picking ripe berries. Courtesy

According to the 2018 economic survey released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics in April, the decline in marketed coffee was attributed to adverse weather conditions such as cold which affected the flowering of the coffee trees as well as incidences of coffee berry disease and leaf rust in the main production areas such as Nyeri, Murang’a, Kirinyaga, Embu, Nakuru, Juja and Meru among other regions.

Coffee is Kenya’s fourth leading foreign exchange in Kenya after tea, tourism and horticulture.

The crop is grown mostly grown under cooperatives (75.5 per cent) with smallholder farmers accounting for 24.5 per cent.

Some companies dealing in the production and export of coffee such as Eaagads have already issued profit warnings for the year ended March 2018 due to lower earnings.

Eaagads says its profits will decrease by 25 per cent of the 18.1m recorded in 2017.

Coffee production in the country has been declining drastically from 200,000 tonnes recorded in the 1980s to 40,000 tonnes currently as farmers abandoned it in favor of other crops such as maize, avocado and macadamia farming.

In 2017, for instance Murang’a County lost over 710 acres of coffee farms to other sectors like the construction industry and macadamia farming.

Makuyu, Kangema, Kandara and Gatanga sub-counties lead in the uprooting of the crop according to the Agriculture and Food Authority.

Coffee production in the county has reduced from 200 metric tonnes a year recorded in the 1980s to an average of 20m kilos.

It is projected that by 2022, coffee farmers will have reduced from the current 70,000 farmers to below 40,000.

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