For 32 good years, Alfred Maingi worked at the Ministry of Agriculture as the Molo sub-county agricultural officer.
After retiring two years ago, Maingi diverted his farming skills to his Cheponde avocado farm in Elburgon town in Nakuru county.
His two-acre farm hosts 150 trees of Hass avocado and a few Fuerte varieties. The farmer initially grew maize, but the high cost of production denied him sustainable profits prompting him to try something else.
”Since I wanted to practice intensive farming on my one-acre piece, I eliminated maize and livestock and switched to avocado. Producing maize had become expensive, but I was not making any money after harvest,’’ he said.
He started with four seedlings of Fuerte avocado in 2010, which he sourced from nurseries certified by the Horticultural Crop Development.
Due to the high demand for the Hass variety in the market, Maingi bought 40 seedlings two years later and kept on increasing the trees with time.
From his 150 Hass avocado trees, he harvests 500 to 1000 fruits per tree. He notes that a well-maintained Hass tree can produce 1,000 to 1500 every two weeks when in season.
Harvesting is done two times a year with his produce destined for the export market. He sells avocados from his farm to exporters at between Sh10 and Sh16.
He says the venture is profitable, and a farmer with two acres of avocado can make more money than a farmer with 10 acres of land under maize.
To avoid exploitation by brokers, Maingi has joined a farmers’ group in Elburgon. Â He intercrops the avocado trees with beans and peas to add nitrogen to the soil. He applies manure and regularly waters and treats his trees with recommended chemicals.
”I apply the calcium ammonium nitrogen two times a year, especially during the rainy season,’’ he said.
Maingi advised farmers to embrace avocado farming as there is always a market for the fruit.