And while there are various contentious issues surrounding the avocado fruit from daylight theft to market control, one farmer in Ndutumi, Maragua subcounty, has been smiling all the way to the bank for the last 10 years from what he terms as his green gold mine.
Wilson Nduati’s 200 hass avocado trees strewn over his three-and-a-half-acre piece of land have not only sustained his family, but also educated two of his six children up to university level.
A visit to Nduati's farm finds the 67-year-old mason-turned-farmer meticulously harvesting the avocado fruit with the help of five young men he has employed. Baskets hang on theirs shoulder to avoid dropping the fruits down.
He is harvesting the fruits for the third and last time this year.
“I planted the avocados 10 years ago, there are two main seasons in a year but if the tree is properly manured and watered harvesting can be done up to four times,” Nduati says.
“Life was unbearable for my family and I could not manage to educate all my children until a friend introduced me to the hass avocados. He showed me how to graft the ordinary avocado tree with a hass tree to get the seedling and that was my turning point.”
Hass avocados, which are most preferred in the export market, are best grown from grafted seedlings because grafting improves the variety by increasing its resistance to diseases and high yields and adaptability to various soils.
Armed with the knowledge and determination, the farmer, whose career in masonry was not yielding much, planted the seedlings in his farm and is one of the pioneer farmers in Ndutumi, and doubles up as the chairperson of Ndutumi Avocado Growers Association.
Nduati says that hass avocado is good for the export market as it has a long shelf life and can take up to two weeks upon ripening without getting spoilt.
The hass avocado fruit is small in size as compared to ordinary avocados and takes long to ripen as compared to ordinary avocado and produces higher yields.
Planting the avocados involves preparing holes and filling with them manure with some adequate water. The first harvest is thereby expected in between 18 and 24 months.
On a good season, Nduati harvests up to a tonne and sells up to Sh240 a kilo to a local exporting company.
He hopes that the county government will ensure they are connected to irrigation water as that is the only challenge he and other avocado farmers experience. They rely on the currently depressed rain water which is detrimental to avocado yields.
Nduati also advises farmers to go for the best quality avocados that are acceptable in the export market so as to benefit from the venture.
“Choose quality seedlings, manure properly and control pests and diseases for quality yields,” he says.
Apart from weeding, he prunes his avocados trees once per year and uses a glued trap to catch thrips, which are common pests in avocados.
Avocados contain high levels of healthy beneficial fats, soluble fibre and are a source of vitamins C, E, K,and B6. The fruits also have riboflavin, niacin, folate, pantothenic acid and omega -3 fatty acids which are beneficial the body.
(edited by Amol Awuor)
