With an industry that has grown very rapidly in recent years, Kenya has positioned itself as the largest avocado producer in Africa in terms of volume. According to FAOSTAT data, the acreage has increased sevenfold since 2000, officially reaching almost 28,000 hectares in 2022, and the production has grown by 800% in that same period, reaching almost 460,000 tons. The country's potential for further development in tropical cultivation "is still immense," says Mari Luz Iglesias, of Iberian Exotic. As a tropical expert, she was invited to take part in a training project on avocado and mango cultivation for producers in Makueni County through the International Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) in Bari, Italy.
"Kenya has everything it needs to obtain a good quality production: very fertile land, perfect weather and abundant, good quality water; however, if the country wants more homogeneous and higher quality plantations that yield better returns, avocado and mango cultivation still needs to be professionalized and technified," she said from her new offices in Gijón on her return to Spain.
"After visiting some farms and getting to know how the fruit is grown, one of the points we wanted to focus on in the training program is the pruning. Many of the farms I visited had trees that were 8 or 9 meters high, with large productions, but with size and quality contrasts having an impact on the exportable volumes," she says.
"Something as simple as pruning and keeping trees smaller reduces the impact of pests, because pesticides are easier to apply and reach the whole tree. It also makes harvesting easier and, although each tree yields a lower volume, higher quality fruit is obtained and the number of complaints at destination is minimized."
"The abundance of water makes it unnecessary to use irrigation systems, although they can still be necessary to apply certain fertilizers or treatments effectively and uniformly throughout the plantation," says Mari Luz. "A correct management of the harvest is also very important. We were told that there were times when the trees stopped flowering for no apparent reason, and after thinking about it, we figured out that being in a tropical climate in which the trees don't get vegetative rest makes it necessary for the fruit to be harvested when it has reached a specific point of ripeness. Otherwise, the plants' biological cycles are affected. This gives us an extra reason to monitor the fruit's fatty matter content, which in many cases is not done."
"Also, as far as varieties are concerned, and with exports in mind, there should be a switch to Hass avocado cultivation. Until now, a number of different avocado varieties have been grown, normally directly from seed, instead of using grafted rootstocks, so not all the fruit produced is suitable for the export market, and there is not enough domestic consumption either, with prices that make selling the avocados to the oil industry more profitable than marketing them for fresh consumption."
"These changes are not really difficult to make, but they require some investments, as well as monitoring. Still, the country has everything it needs to produce excellent quality fruit. With better management, it could become one of the major producers of avocados for export."
"I feel enormously grateful for having been picked for this project. It has been a very enriching experience that has given me the opportunity to get to know a very interesting country and lovely people. The human side has actually been the most rewarding part of my trip, in which I hope to have contributed to improving the profitability of the producers who took part in my training program."
For more information:
Iberian Exotics Lda.
Marques de Urquijo 5, 1B, Gijón, Asturias. Spain
Tel.: Mari Luz Iglesias (+34) 637 319 656
Tel.: Hugo Leitao (+351) 961 301 952
[email protected]
https://iberianexotics.com