John Mburu, GM Murang’a Avocado Farmers Cooperative Union, and
Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba on Wednesday /ALICE WAITHERAFarmers from Githunguri constituency have started plans to commercialise avocado farming, moving away from treating it as a source of passive income.
Although many households have avocado trees, they have only been selling fruit to local vendors for minimal returns.
MP Gathoni Wamuchomba led a group of farmers on a benchmarking visit to Murang’a county—the nation's largest avocado producer—accounting for 32 per cent of national production.
“I have brought a bus-load of Gen Z farmers from my constituency to Murang’a so they can understand that jobs are not only available in offices, that they can also make money from their own backyards,” Wamuchomba said.
They visited the Sh70 million Ng’araria packhouse, operated by the Murang’a Avocado Farmers Cooperative Union, which aggregates and sells fruit for its 5,689 members from 16 local co-operatives.
The county earned Sh4.6 billion from avocado exports last year.
The visit precedes the launch of the Githunguri Avocado Society today, to help farmers earn more.
“It’s only through working together that farmers can gain the power to fight for better prices. That’s why we’re launching the avocado society,” Wamuchomba said.
She expressed confidence that consolidating farmers would enable them to engage in agri-business and uplift their standards.
Murang’a Governor Irungu Kang’ata said the sector's success was a journey and local farmers have benefited from its streamlining.
The county produces over 200,000 tonnes annually and the visiting farmers were trained on best practices.
Kang’ata cited significant challenges, including farm-gate theft, harvesting even the immature ones, which forces farmers to abandon their daily routines to guard their farms.
“Other challenges include harvesting of immature fruits and the operation of unlicensed shops, but we hope to partner with the national government to enforce the laws,” he added.
Kang’ata pledged to organise a reciprocal visit for Murang’a farmers to learn from Githunguri’s high dairy production.
