The orchard I set up with two seedlings worth Sh20

A cold breeze greets us as we enter the avocado farm surrounded with a variety of trees that include cypress and eucalyptus in Bomet. The trees sway in sync with the breeze creating a tranquil environment.

William Beliot Langat is the owner of the farm and as one walks around, they can’t stop marvelling at the fruits dangling from the trees.

“I have been farming avocado for several years now, although I also keep dairy animals and grow others crops, including maize.”

Langat says he started the venture with only Sh20 some 15 years ago, but over time, the orchard has grown to offer him up to Sh300,000 a season.

“I bought the initial two seedlings for Sh10 each in Gatundu during a visit to a friend and planted on my farm. They did very well and my family consumed the fruits. This encouraged me to grow seven more trees.”

The nine trees of the Fuerte variety produced several fruits that the farmer sold in the local market.

However, it was not until 2011 when he realised the huge potential of the fruits that he decided to expand the orchard.
“I bought 300 grafted Hass avocado seedlings from a tree nursery supported by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) at Mulot trading centre on the border of Bomet and Narok counties, spending Sh7,500.”

The trees currently produce 400 fruits per season, which are harvested twice a year – in March and April and November and December.

“From the Hass variety of fruits, my first earnings were Sh13,000 in 2013. Then they rose to Sh56,000 in the second harvest and Sh160,000 in the first harvest of the second year. Currently, I earn double the amount per season from the mature trees. I sell the produce through Isei Cooperative Society, which exports them.”

Avocados mature in two years and with improved crops husbandry, one can harvest up to 350kg of fruits per tree in a year.

PROPERLY FILL THE WHOLE

For better results, Langat plants the trees at a spacing of 30 by 33 feet as he eyes the export market.

“I have learnt how to grow the fruits for the export market and one of the things one has to do is not spray with chemicals. I also use manure – a mixture of cow dung, sheep, goat and chicken droppings – to plant the seedlings as opposed to inorganic fertiliser,” says the former councillor who served between 1992 and 1997.

Through the cooperative, Langat and other farmers in Bomet have been able to overcome brokers.

“Some brokers offer Sh5 per fruit yet at the cooperative we sell a kilo at Sh48 per kilo when it is collected from the farm by the society,” he says, adding his family provides labour on the farm, with their services mostly required during harvest season.

Thanks to the fruits, the farmer is now able to comfortably educate his children and he has built himself a decent house, says Langat, who also grows bananas, bamboo, prunus africana, grevillea, cypress and tea, besides keeping dairy cattle goats and Kienyeji chickens. 

Benard Mutai, an agronomist in Bomet, says an avocado tree attains its full potential in five years and farmers are encouraged to intercrop it with onions, beans and any other food crops.

“The tree should be planted with manure since it does not leach and has all the required nutrients. Prunning should also be done for better harvest.”

Avocado trees in Bomet rarely get pests and fungal attack because of the favourable climatic conditions with an average rainfall all-year round. However, Mutai says the first two years after planting, the trees are prone to root rot.

Farmers are advised to properly fill the hole to avoid cases of stagnant water.

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Get it fast

Intercropping avocado with vegetables

You can intercrop avocado with fast-maturing crops like beans and vegetables.

The beans fix nitrogen in the soil, thus, making it rich for the avocados besides helping to utilise the farm to the maximum.

Do not intercrop with other crops that grow into trees because they will have deep-roots which will compete with those of avocados.

Popular avocado varieties are Hass and Fuerte.