Sh1.5m avocado enterprise pays dividends in tea county

We drive for almost 77km from Kisumu on the smooth highway to vibrant Kapsoit centre in Kericho where in a county dominated by tea, a group of farmers have taken on a new challenge.

We meet Ken Lang’at dressed in a white coat, a stripped white and navy blue shirt and a black pair of trousers. He welcomes us to the 1.2 acre farm but before he ushers into the farm we first disinfect our feet, a measure to control pests and diseases.

The farm belongs to Jamii Avocados, an enterprise owned by 15 members hosting 150,000 Hass avocado seedlings.

“We graft Hass avocados, grow and sell them. We also have 1,500 grafted Hass avocado trees. September will be our second season of harvesting,” says Lang’at, the senior manager at the farm.

The farm imports Hass shoots from South Africa and grafts them with locally available indigenous avocado seedlings for root stock. The scions are imported on a weekly basis and kept under specific conditions.

“We order 10,000 Hass scions per week. In South Africa they are packaged in clear perforated polythene bags and later placed in special containers to maintain temperatures of 30 to 35 degrees Celsius,” says Langat, adding each scion goes for Sh70.

On arriving at the farm the shoots are grafted into the stock of the indigenous avocado seedling.

“We scout in various farms to get the best indigenous yield for the stock. We buy the fruits and let them ripen them till the seeds germinate. On germination we transfer the seeds to saw dust based nursery to grow,” says Lang’at.

During the grafting, Lang’at and his team of five workers make sure that the stock and the scion are disease-free. The scion forms the upper branches of the tree that produces fruits while stock consists of roots and lower trunk of the tree.

The workers cut the surface of scion and stock, fit them together and bind them tightly with thread and cover it with clear polythene tube to prevent bacterial and fungal infection.

APPLY MULCH

The process also helps in maintaining temperature and humidity for germination.

“After 21 days you remove the polythene bag once the scion develops buds. The workers target to graft 2,000 avocado seedlings per day,” he says.

Once the seedlings have fully sprouted and developed leaves they are hardened in shade net awaiting transplanting.

Land is prepared such that the soil is loosely packed and a hole of two feet by two feet with a depth of two feet is dug.

“Separate the top soil from sub soil. Mix the top soil with lime and mix the subsoil with manure. We encourage the use of organic manure. Refill the pit with top soil and lime mixture followed by subsoil and manure mixture,” says Langat.

When transplanting make sure the soil does not cover avocado cotyledon. Apply white emulsion paint to avoid sun burn.

Prof Matthews Dida, a lecturer at Maseno University Department of Agriculture says young grafted avocado have exposed bark which is prone to sunburn.

“The farmers should tape the join until the plant is well grafted.The white paint can prevent water from getting into the graft joint. Moisture sipping into the graft joints can lead to rotting of the stem. It will also protect the stem from sap sucking insects,” says Prof Dida

He advises farmers to apply mulch beneath the avocado tree’s canopy to retain soil moisture especially during the dry seasons.

On average Jamii Avocados sells more than 5,000 Hass seedlings monthly at Sh200 each . Since July 2016 when they obtained certificates from Horticultural Crop Development Authority and Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services, they have exported 5,000 seedlings to Rwanda.

EXTRACT AVOCADO OIL

During our visit, the company had sold 18,000 seedlings while 35,000 seedlings were ready for sale.

“We have country wide market selling to organizations and farmers places such Bomet, Narok, Thika Busia, Kitale, Baringo, Kakamega, Kisii, Eldoret, Kericho, Taita Taveta, Nairobi, Muranga and Nakuru,” says Lang’at.

Jamii Avocado started in 2014 with 800 Hass seedlings from JKUAT. In 2015 they planted another 700 seedlings. They had their first harvest in September 2016 with 380kg of Hass variety per tree. They sold a kilogramme of fruits at sh40.

“We started grafting in October 2016 and selling the seedlings in January. It is ready market and the demand for the Hass variety is high. Hass has a fat content of 18 per cent with a long shelf life compared to indigenous avocado trees.

With good management, the tree can produce more than 1,200 fruits,” he says

Jamii Avocado Managing Director Felix Lelgo and 14 other members injected a capital of Sh1.5 million which went buying scions and rootstock, shade nets, poles and construction of the water system.

“Currently we have contracted 3,000 farmers countywide. We started this venture to encourage farmers to diversify into avocado farming aside from tea which sometimes experiences fall in prices,” he says

The farms biggest challenge is hailstone and when seedlings are exposed to too much sun.

The company plans to build warehouse and in five years establish processing plant to extract avocado oil.