Avocado Farming in Kenya Gets a Boost as China Slashes Duty on Kenya Avocadoes

Avocado farmers and exporters in Kenya have been eying the lucrative China market for the last 7 years. China, being the most populated country in the world presents a huge potential market for Kenyan avocado but penetrating it has been hindered by several obstacles.

But ongoing negotiations between the Kenya government and that of China are finally yielding results. Last week (2^nd week of January 2020), the Chinese government agreed to slash the import duty on Kenyan avocado from 30% to 7%.

Intensive avocado farming - Kenya

That of course means an increased profit margin and is a move that will benefit any Kenyan avocado farmer who wants to export the fruits to China. It’s ideally designed to benefit the small exporters and it’s a huge advantage to cooperative societies and associations of avocado farmers whose export quantities are small.

Another hurdle for avocado exports from Kenya

However, a major obstacle yet to be removed is the tough handling conditions that China has placed specifically on Kenyan avocado. The export companies in Kenya are required to peel off and freeze the avocado to -30℃ and further maintain them at -18℃ while on transit to China.

The equipment required to achieve this is obviously very expensive and small scale farmers and exporters are not able to afford it. Despite this stringent measures and the capital requirement involved, some companies have already started exporting and several shipments have been made to China.

Pest free zones for export avocado

Kenyan Avocado

Trade Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo has however ensured avocado farmers in Kenya that negotiations to remove the tough conditions are still going on. The reason why China has put those conditions is because of the fruit fly pest rampant in our country. 

To address this issue, the Kenyan government through KEPHIS has created pest free zones where avocado meant for export to China will be handled. If this move becomes successful, then Kenyans will start exporting avocado to China in its fresh form. This way the small scale farmers will have access to the Asian market which obviously has better prices than they are currently getting in Kenya.  

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We have compiled this hass avocado farming guide for kenya to help you with information on the go. It is now available in pdf so you can even carry it in your phone and refer any time. You can now request for it from our Resources Page.