Uasin Gishu Deputy Governor Daniel Chemno has described Avocado farming as a multi-billion dollar economy.
Chemno now wants Chebororwa Agricultural Training Centre (ATC) to take the lead in planting avocado trees among other high-value crops.
The county government of Uasin Gishu has been asking farmers to embrace crop diversification, with Chebororwa ATC producing the seedlings for coffee, avocado, and macadamia among other crops.
Already, a number of farmers have heeded the calls, and are already reaping the fruits of diversification.
But Chemno wants Chebororwa ATC to do more, starting with a target of making a billion shillings from avocado farming in the next 10 years.
“We need to say in Uasin Gishu, why don’t we make a projecting and say we’re going to introduce new crops. Think about of avocado, it is a low-cost tree and we have rivers around Chebororwa. We can start with 200 acres because of drip irrigation,” said the Uasin Gishu DG.
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Projections from Avocado farming indicate that a farmer can make between Ksh2-300 per tree in the first year, Ksh8,000 per tree in the fifth year, and between Ksh15,000 to Ksh20,000 per tree in the 10th year.
“If we can have 200 acres of land under avocado, we will be talking of Ksh200 to Ksh300 million in 10 years,” said Chemno.
“Add coffee and the two crops if they can be in 400 acres, it will be putting a turnover of around Ksh700 million,” he added.
The Uasin Gishu DG further wants the North Rift Economic Bloc (NOREB) to embrace avocado and other high-value crops farming, in what he says can be a multi-billion dollar economy.
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Chemno notes that there is a ready market for all this produce – which is yet to be fully satisfied abroad.
“If we can do even 100,000 acres in Noreb we will generate a 2.5 billion dollar economy. It can do wonders,” he said.
