01 August 2006
Kenyan Farmers Improve Their Avocado Harvests and Profits
Partnership for a Better Life
Mbugua Gitau depends on his avocado orchard in Kenya as the sole source of income for his family. But Gitau and other farmers in his area also used to depend on freelance buying brokers, who offered only low prices and unreliable timing for purchasing their products.
Then the farmers heard that three avocado oil-processing factories were preparing to open in the country. Each needed a reliable supply of avocados to process into oil for export to South Africa, where it would be refined for the cosmetics industry. The challenge was to connect Gitau and Kenya's approximately 5,400 other avocado farmers with the processors.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Kenya's Business Development Services (BDS) program are attempting to do just that. BDS is a five-year micro- and small-enterprise project that works to increase growth and income among rural enterprises by helping them gain more access to business services.
The program, implemented by the international development consulting firm Emerging Markets Group, held meetings for farmers. Near the end of 2005, almost 100 producer groups had been registered, representing more than 2,800 farmers. The team held training sessions for the farmer groups on such topics as creating bylaws, group dynamics, elections, registration and record-keeping.
Kenya BDS also reached out to local government officials and opinion leaders. After receiving support from various sides, the team helped negotiate supply contracts and championed the entire enterprise to ensure that the potential of the remainder of the harvest season could be maximized.
To facilitate market links among the farmers and each of three newly formed processing firms, farmers worked to ensure that the most fruit matured in time for purchasing. This was done through intensive geographical mapping, analysis of production clusters and careful negotiation of terms of supply contracts.
By the end of the 2005 growing season, 178 tons of avocados had been delivered. Considering that the program commenced towards the end of harvest season, this was a good start. For the farmers, the combination of three processing firms and more efficient marketing channels led to a guaranteed market and a 400-500 percent price increase per kilogram. For the processors, initially anxious that the demands of three processing factories would exceed the supply of fruit, it appeared that adequate supply exists.
Gitau now has a renewed optimism in avocado farming. The Ichagaki Self-Help Group he belongs to approaches avocado farming as a business. As the quality of the group's fruit increases, he and other members look forward to moving into the more lucrative whole fruit export market.
The key challenge that remains is to improve the quality and productivity of orchards through integrated pest management and fertilizers. To meet this need, Kenya BDS has formed a network of trained spray service providers; the spray programs have been developed carefully to meet export standards. Kenya BDS also has made commercial financial arrangements so farmers can use credit to pay for spraying. The program is expected to more than triple the productivity of orchards.
With his anticipated increased income from the upcoming season, Gitau looks forward to reinvesting his earnings in an extra piece of land to increase his avocado acreage. He plans to renovate his house, buy some milk goats and eventually purchase another piece of land.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
