President Uhuru -Raila visit to China has yield fruits after the agreement was signed to enhance the export of Hass Avocados.
Uhuru and Raila went to China to seek an additional Sh368 billion loan to extend the SGR to Western.
“I will be part of the delegation that will accompany the President to the Asian country next week. The new SGR line will extend from Naivasha to Narok, Bomet, Sondu and finally Kisumu,” Raila said.
It’s during the meeting that the president strikes a deal with the Chinese president.
” The avocado export deal signed when President Kenyatta met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing today enables Kenyan farmers to export their popular Hass avocados to China,”Statehouse posted.
The current local market prices for a 90-kilogram bag of avocado in selected markets across the country are as follows: 4,000 shillings in Mombasa, 2,600 shillings in Loitoktok, 2,200 shillings in Nairobi, 2,100 shillings in Eldoret, 2,000 shillings in Nakuru and 800 shillings in Kitale.
Avocado farming has increasingly been adopted in recent years by Kenyan farmers, especially smallholder farmers who account to over 70 percent of the total production.
Kenyan farmers are growing more and more Avocadoes to not only meet the local demand but that of the European market too and as a result, the country is now among the world’s biggest exporters of avocados and currently the world’s sixth largest exporter of the fruit.
It has been estimated that Kenya produces 115,000 metric tons of avocado annually, three-quarters of which end up in expanding export markets.
Early last year the government banned the export of the product leading to a severe shortage of popular varieties, Fuerte and Hass, which were the off-season.
Farmers and traders were intentionally starving the domestic market in favour of the international market resulting in the shortage of the ‘new wonder crop’ which saw the price of the fruit rise to a three-and-a-half-year high with an avocado in Nairobi’s retail markets going selling for between 50 shillings and 80 shillings up from between 10 shillings and 20 shillings each during high season.