hope for kisii avocado farmers as county government signs an MOU with the avofresh processors
Written by munika remjuice on June 23, 2022
The AVOFRESH processors Limited signed an agreement with Kisii county on the 22nd of June to install a processing machine in Kisii before September to benefit the farmers of the Kisii region. The MOU happened in Kisii agricultural training centre.
The avocado farming activity in Kisii has been on and high. The farmers have been benefiting from this farming activity hence shaping their lives. The installation of the processing machine will boost the profits of the farmer for the demand will be high.
AVOFRESH director Fernando Marques said that through the support of the UK Aid’s Sustainable Economic Development Programme (SUED), they had established collection centers around the county to allow for easy collection of the avocados.” As a start, we have already gathered over 20 tonnes of fruits and believe that we have started practicing fair trade with the farmers whereby we are paying them a fair price within seven days,” he said. The Director added that the factory will begin its full operations in September.
Deputy British High Commissioner, Julius Court thanked the Kisii Governor for the continuous partnerships in investment attraction adding that the project will create additional jobs in the factory, provide markets and increase income for the avocado farmers in the county.
Kisii County Commissioner, Allan Machari said that the national government in collaboration with the county government was aware of the project and it will improve the livelihood of citizens in Kisii.
“I assure you that we shall work jointly with the county government to ensure that the project is a success,” Machari said.
Kisii farmers produce 80 tonnes of avocados in a day which is being exported to other nations. Ongwae the governor said that the crop was purposely grown for sustainable issues and involved only small-scale farmers, but today it’s a major crop cultivated by large-scale farmers hence being a source of income to many. The Governor added that they had registered the Kisii County Avocado Cooperative in all the sub-counties to enable farmers to address the challenges they experienced in their previous value chain such as getting rid of middlemen as well as brokers
The avocado crop will be processed and the product will be cooking oil and cosmetics which are mostly used by Kenyans.
According to Fernando marques the director of avofresh limited, the processing centres were not only opened in kisii, but also in other parts of the country to benefit the entire nation.
