Avocado Farmers Get Ksh 20M Bonus

This is the outcome of a contract farming deal that was entered into between 64 avocado farmer groups and an agricultural firm, Kakuzi limited in February 2013.

This payment will be made in two installments in an arrangement that is similar to how tea farmers are paid.

The payment will benefit about 1600 avocado farmers in the region.

Avocado farming is big business in Murang’a County, a county whose population largely depends on agriculture, but it has also been a source of frustration to many farmers who have been a pittance from the crop.

Murang’a county government is now in the process of forming a co-operative that will bring together avocado farmers in order to strengthen their bargaining power in a market that has long been exploited by middlemen.

By Wangui Ngechu