Briefing Paper

The Booming Peruvian Avocado Sector: Lessons for Kenya

The Peruvian experience highlights the importance of public interventions to develop the value chain.
In this case, the agro-export boom was preceded by policies to encourage private large-scale actors.
These private enterprises led to the identification of the global demand for avocados and access to the export markets. While Peru has seen a remarkable expansion of large scale commercial avocado farming, most avocados in Kenya are grown by small-scale producers selling to brokers (offering uncompetitive prices). However, this analysis indicates that Kenya has several opportunities to successfully develop its avocado export sector.