Be ready for avocado exports to China, Ruto tells farmers

President William Ruto has asked Kenyan farmers to ready themselves for a major boon with China expected to again open its market for avocado and Macadamia imports.

The President said on Sunday that his recent visit to Beijing sealed a deal that will now see the Chinese market import the products from Kenya.

”I want to tell our farmers to be ready now because when I went to China we agreed that we will have the market opened for our avocado and Macadamia,” Ruto said.

Speaking during an interdenominational service in Uasin Gishu, the President said his trip to China had brought benefits saying there is now a bigger market in the Korean and European Union markets.

The President said that he will sign a deal with the European Union in the coming days to seal an economic partnership agreement to expand the Kenyan market.

”The speaker of the European Parliament will be in Kenya to sign that agreement with me because the European Parliament has passed that agreement,” he said.

China is a high-value avocado market and it imports the bulk of avocados during the summer months between June and August.

The country brings in small amounts of avocado the rest of the year from countries whose season comes later.

During his campaigns last year, President Ruto who was then the Deputy President said he would use avocados to clear the huge debt Kenya owes China.

Kenya started exporting avocados to China last August after many years of waiting, occasioned by regulatory requirements by the authorities in Beijing.

The country had long been seeking the Chinese market, but there was a requirement that Kenya would only be allowed to ship frozen fruits, not fresh ones.

The logistics involved and the lack of necessary infrastructure delayed access to the Chinese market since the agreement was first reached between Kenya and China in 2019.

When the market was opened in August last year, avocado earnings to China recorded Ksh7 billion in three months to October, which exceeded the Ksh6 billion that Kenya had earned between March and July of the same year.

Producers and exporters wanting to export fresh avocados to China have to ensure that all their production farms, pack houses and fumigation treatment facilities are registered as one of the conditions to access that market.

Kenyan avocado exports to China hit Ksh9 billion in the three months to May this year, defying steep competition in the market from Chile — a top producer of the fruit globally.

Kenya exported seven million kilogrammes to Beijing between March and May this year as more farms and pack houses tapped into the lucrative Chinese market.

Over the last few months, there has ben challenges in Kenyan farrmers accessing Bejing to seel theri Avocado but the President says he has streamlined that.