Kenya is the leading avocado exporter in Africa, with a production of 417, 000 tons, followed by Ethiopia, which produced 152,000 tons in 2022. Recently, the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO) has started an avocado seedling multiplication project, setting out to scale up production of the fruit as farmers eye the European market. KALRO targets to avail avocado seedlings at its centres spread across the country to help increase the acreage of land under the crop.
KALRO Seeds Director Robert Musyoki said propagation of the seedlings was ongoing at the Kibos centre in Kisumu and other centres across the country, with a target of producing 320, 000 seedlings per year. Through farmer field days, he said KALRO was sensitising farmers in Kisumu and other parts of western Kenya, which have the potential for avocado farming, to embrace the fruit.
Source: kenyanews.go.ke