A young entrepreneur in Kamune, Mathioya, in Murang'a County has innovatively created a system which transforms raw avocado into a higher-value product, saving farmers from post-harvest losses.
Through his customised value addition system, 30-year-old Wilson Maina Mwangi extracts cold-pressed oil from the avocado fruit, leveraging on the availability of the fruit all year long from the farmers who have embarked on this low-labour but lucrative venture.
Processing the avocados has not only significantly increased the profit margins but also saved the farmers from post-harvest losses and also conserved the environment. "I started sourcing avocados from farmers in 2018, which I would, in turn, sort and sell to companies that are involved in buying and exporting avocados," he said. "In 2023, we experienced a challenge with a low supply of the fruit and could not meet the required quantity for the exporting companies, and we ended up discarding the fruits to pig farmers, leading to huge losses for us and the farmers as well," he added.
Motivated by this unpleasant development, the plant operator graduate, who is also an avocado farmer, discovered a eureka moment.
