Avocado farmers in Othaya constituency are set to smile all the way to the bank after entering into a binding deal with an international marketing entity.
The farmers, spread out across all the four electoral wards of Chinga, Karima, Iriaini and Mahiga are expected to earn a whopping Sh250million in the next three months after a horticulture firm, Agrivalue undertook to pay a minimum Sh17.50 per fruit in a deal renewable after every season.
The promoter of the deal, Patrick Ngunjiri whose law firm negotiated on behalf of the farmers disclosed that at 100 youth had been recruited and trained to harvest and sort the fruits effective today.
Speaking during the launch of the project at Nyamari village in Iriaini, the marketing company’s managing director Fabrizio Cardillo emphasized the need to professionalize picking and grading to enhance value addition.
According to Ngunjiri who is popular for agitating for tea farmers rights, offering probono services vowed to ensure that farming is turned into income generation venture and source of employment for the youth.
The lawyer who has declared interest in wrestling the Othaya parliamentary seat from incumbent Gichuki Mugambi said that farming need not be for the elderly only but for the youth as well with proper management in the entire value chain.
During the current season, the farmers are projected to produce upwards of 50Â containers for export thereby earning the country much needed foreign exchange.
“Here we dismiss the fruits as _maguna ngui-that which benefits dogs, while in some other countries like Mexico the fruits are christened green gold”, lamented Ngunjiri noting that we need to change the attitude.
In the programme dubbed, “Umoja wetu, pesa zetu”, farmers have been segmented into small local groups.
Boda boda riders will also benefit immensely as they will be contracted to transport the fruits from the farms to the sorting and grading area while ladies will be recruited for sorting and grading as male youth have been recruited as pickers.
