Avocado: New Gold For Farmers As Prices Double

Avocado fruit is the new gold for farmers and business people as prices increase by more than 130 percent.

Last week, the government, through the Ministry of Agriculture together with that of Trade, banned the export of the fruit citing inadequate supply.

A crosscheck within Nairobi by Soko Directory team revealed a shortage of one of the most consumed fruit in the country.

A fruit that used to go for 10 shillings is now going for between 50 and 60 shillings while that that used to go for 50 shillings is going for between 90 and 120 shillings.

“We don’t have enough supply. The little we get is either very expensive or in poor quality,” said Janerose Wambua, a trader at Kariokor market in Nairobi.

The shortage has been blamed on the long dry season that affected most parts of the country in 2017.

“The dry season greatly affected the crop. There was also a lot of wind that prevented the trees from flowering,” said Peter Kimani, a farmer from Nyeri.

The government has since banned the export of the fruit to other countries until the supply on the local market is enough and sustaining.

Traders have expressed fears that the available fruit stock might not sustain the market for long and called on the government to allow imports of the same from other producing countries.