According to International Food Research and Policy Institute (IFPRI), Kenya is the third largest producer of avocado in the world.
It is the leading fruit export contributing a fifth of Kenya’s horticulture export.
Avocado is grown in almost every part of the county with small scale farmers contributing 70% of avocado produced in Kenya. They grow it for subsistence, local market and export purposes.
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Despite avocado business being lucrative in the foreign markets, Kenya only export 10% of total avocado produced.
The value chain is dominated by few players who not only control production but also export markets.
Various challenges hindering smallholder farmers from accessing foreign markets have been cited, ranging from capital and liquidity constraints, limited access to production technologies, poor infrastructure among many others.
These therefore form the background on which the Standard Media Group purposes to exclusively highlight the chronicles of avocado value chain in Kenya.
The Standard Media Group has initiated FarmKenya mandated to amplify various activities done by stakeholders in the agriculture sector through dedicated platforms like KTN Farmers TV, Smart Harvest and Technology Magazine, FarmKenya Digital platform (www.farmers.co.ke) and Maisha Kilimo radio show.
It is on this ground that we seek to highlight key achievements, opportunities, challenges and the prospect of avocado value chain in Kenya through a special edition of the Smart Harvest and Technology magazine in the Saturday Standard Newspaper as part of the monthly value chain series. we shall also interview experts on KTN Farmers TV and Radio Maisha.
The format will be a 12-page special edition focusing exclusively on avocado value chain. The content will include farmers’ success stories and challenges and local and export markets.
It will also include research findings, impact features of local, regional and international organisations, informercials and advertorials on products and services offered by companies operating within the value chain.
This will be the third edition that will be published on Saturday December 19, 2020 on Smart Harvest and Technology magazine circulated by the Saturday Standard newspaper.
More than 10,000 avocado farmers will also be supplied with this special edition as part of the Standard Groups’ Farmers Empowerment programme.
The areas of focus will be best practices in avocado farming, avocado varieties and how to plant them, avocado export markets and institutional framework and policies on avocado value chain.
Others are health and nutritional benefits of avocado, research and technology, the business of avocado farming and the role of private and public sectors in the avocado value chain.
To partner please contact Ronald Ayieta on 0726374545 (rayieta@standardmedia.co.ke) or Kennedy Ouma on 0717543604 (koouma@standardmedia.co.ke).
Groups and cooperatives are encouraged to pre-order copies of this edition at all our bureaus nationally. For details, contact Agnes Nyambare on 0719012730 (aawino@standardmedia.co.ke).
