HASS AVOCADO FARMING IN KENYA

Avocado farming in Kenya presents a good opportunity  not only for farmers, but a growing  population of young people to venture into. The Kenyan market both domestic and export is growing but limited by the production capacity of the current farmers. The most popular variety for the export market is the HASS avocado.

 Hass is a semi-spreading tree requiring at least a 40'x 40' planting distance at maturity. It is a generous  bearer of fruits. 

We had the privilege of interacting with a farmer from central Kenya who started farming the fruit in 2008 from seedlings. Four years down the line his  trees were of fruit bearing age and in 2014 his venture was commercially viable.Further interactions revealed his preference of avocado farming to other crops is growing, this was after a ready export market for his product at 8-12 ksh per fruit, he delivers his products directly to an exporting firm.                                                                                                        pic 1 : Hass Avocado fruit

The climatic  conditions in most parts of the country are ideal for Hass variety farming. They are sensitive to wind, which can cause fruit drop and defoliation. Trees should be located in safe areas. Planting of avocado trees is done at a spacing of 9m×9m. Dig planting holes 60cm ×60cm× 60cm separating top soil and subsoil. Mix the top soil with 20kg of well decomposed manure, 120grams of double super phosphate fertilizer. Remove the seedling from the pot keeping the root and soil structure intact, and plant using the top soil mixture. The subsoil may be used to make a basin around the plant.

We were able to determine production per tree by randomly sampling trees in the farm.

Production averaged 60 fruits per tree, this was what we were able to count and could be more before the end of the season. See pic 2. Please note harvesting is done twice in one year.                                                                                                    Pic 2: Mature tree

Average production per randomly sampled tree yielded 60 fruits at its fifth year in one season, production is two seasons per year. At an average price of ten shillings per fruit the returns per tree per year amount to 1200 ksh. It takes 100 or more fruits to create a meaningful income of more than 100,000 ksh!

NOTE: There are other Avocado fruit varieties but this is the most popular for the export market and has a high production , due to its popularity for domestic and export consumption it fetches high prices compared to traditional varieties.

CAUTION: The Grafted seedlings  determine the fruit variety for mature trees, source your seedling from practicing farmers: to get seedling from this farmer : centerprises4@gmail.com

                                                         

All photographs courtesy of Creative Enterprises

                                               Pic 3: Planted Grafted Seedling.