Kenya is the largest avocado producing country in Africa with a production volume of around 110K tons. Kenya’s avocado production surpassed South African production for the first time ever in 2018, due to the increased harvest area for avocado.
As the global demand for Kenyan avocados is increasing and the profitability of avocado is much higher than other tropical fruits such as banana and pineapple, more farmers are starting to plant the fruit. In addition, the Kenyan government is also actively supporting avocado production by providing free avocado seedlings to farmers and subsidizing small scale avocado farmers.
Kenya mainly produces and exports two varieties of avocados: Hass and Fuerte, a green-skin variety. The season for Hass avocado starts in March and ends in September and the season for Fuerte avocado starts earlier in January but also ends earlier in July.