When the government reopened the avocado fruit export window in April, Nehemiah Langat, a farmer in Bomet, was among those who were excited as it presented an opportunity to sell their mature fruits for a premium price.
However, the majority of the farmers have been gripped by anxiety, disappointment and losses after being exploited by brokers and companies purchasing the fruits that are in high demand in the export market.
The Agricultural Food Authority (AFA) imposed the harvest and export suspension on October 20, 2025 and reopened it on April 7, 2026, due to low volumes of mature fruits that were registered in farms following a survey by the Authority.
Mr Langat, like many farmers in the Rift Valley, complain of exploitation by companies engaged in the export business and also by brokers who offer very low prices for the fresh farm produce.
“On May 11, I harvested the fruits and the company collected 494 kilogrammes on the night of the same day. They ran out of trays and promised to return the following morning for the remaining produce. However, they did not turn up,” Mr Langat revealed.
He said, “When I called the senior manager at the company, he directed me to talk to the field officials, who promised they would pick the produce. But they did not turn up for two more days.”
“On the fourth day, with the risk of the fruits getting spoiled, I offloaded 2,395 kilogrammes to brokers and the local market at Sh20 per kilogramme as compared with Sh65 per kilogram that the defaulting company had offered,” Mr Langat stated.
Instead of earning the projected Sh155,675 from his produce, Mr Langat earned just Sh47,900 in the local market.
Brokers are known to dismiss high-quality fruits as rejects, so that farmers are left with little choice but to sell for a song. But once collected, the fruits are re-sorted, with a huge chunk of them offloaded to the export market.
“The brokers came to my farm, inspected the fruits, directed us to harvest while offering Sh80 per kilogramme. Once we harvested, they disappeared and did not pick up calls. In the end, some buyers, whom we suspect are linked to the ones who told us to harvest, came and offered Sh5 per fruit,” Ms Jane Moriasi, a farmer in Narok West, said.
In Kericho and parts of Nakuru counties, the farmers are registering losses following low prices and are forced to sell as the fruits are highly perishable. Apart from the hass and fuerte varieties, which are popular with exporters, the pinkerton, jumbo and bacon varieties are also grown in Kenya.
The county governments of Bomet and Kericho are bringing together farmers to join cooperative societies so as to leverage the high volumes of the fresh produce and engage in contract farming.
“A packhouse is under construction by the Bomet county government at Boito in Konoin Constituency in what will ensure the avocado fruits are stored in cooling facilities before being offloaded to the market at premium prices,” Ms Milcah Rono, the Chief Officer for Economic Planning, the department overseeing the project, said.
Ms Rono said, “Setting up of the facility followed the agricultural diversification program put in place by the county government that has seen a sharp rise in production with more farmers embracing the growing of the fruits, which has high demand in the export market”
Mr Solomon Kimetto, the Bomet Chief Officer for Water, Environment and Climate Change, said the county, through Financing Locally Led Climate Action (FLLoCA) 125,000 avocado tree seedlings had been issued to farmers in five sub-counties and another 150,000 earlier through a subsidy program.
“Avocado trees, with a premium fruit is used to address environmental conservation, nutrition and earnings to farmers,” Mr Kimetto said.
Dr Michael Bongei, a Strategic Management expert, said there was a need to link the farmers with exporters and help them engage in contract farming – for assured markets and premium prices.
“There is an urgent need for the government to invest in setting up pack houses and cold room facilities for the farmers to cut on post-harvest losses and leverage on the high volumes to access markets,” Dr Bongei said.
Muranga County is the leading avocado producer in the country and controls 31 percent of the total production volumes annually. Kiambu, Nakuru, Kisii, Nyamira, Meru and Bomet are the other counties with high volumes of avocado in Kenya.
“Avocado is a major source of income for farmers in an agricultural diversification program. The South Rift region is becoming a major source of avocado fruits in the country,” Mr John Cheruiyot, the CEC for Agriculture and Cooperative Development in Kericho county, said.
The Netherlands, Russia, China, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are major export outlets for the Hass avocado from Kenya.
“The government will crack down on middlemen exploiting avocado farmers. Farmers must make profits from their investments,” Dr Paul Rono, the Principal Secretary for Agriculture, said, but no action has so far been taken.
