Othaya farmers sign Sh250 million avocado purchase deal

Avocado farmers in Othaya have signed a Sh250 million deal with a French company that will buy a single fruit at Sh17.50 for the next six months.

Speaking in Othaya, the farmers who have started a cooperative to rid the multimillion industry off brokers, said they were interested in selling their fruits at a common price by looking for market linkages and aggregation.

“We have launched the harvestings season which will run up to September together with the Agrivalue Kenya Limited which will be investing across the avocado value chain and inject between Sh250 million to Sh350 million,” said Mr Patrick Ngunjiri, the farmers representative.

In the deal, youth will receive avocados which are specially modified bikes that will aid in picking of the avocados all the way to the collection centre. They will also help with traceability of the fruit from the farm to the market.

“My appeal to the farmers is that they should not sell immature avocados or be in a rush and I understand times are hard, but be patient for a two weeks or a month so that you can fetch higher prices for your fruits… we have a reserve price of Sh17.50 per fruit,” he added.

So far, over 100 people have been trained on avocado picking and grading which will catapult the commodity direct access to the export market.

To ensure that farmers do not harvest immature fruits, they are training them on how to use an instrument that will measure the quality and dry matter of the fruits.

Officials from Agrivalue Kenya Limited said that they are aimed at exchanging experience and ensuring that farmers are taking care of the orchids which will make sure the product sold in the market will be competitive in the global market.

They will be collecting and buying 100 tonnes of avocados per week.