There has been a government effort to ease market concerns over farmers harvesting avocados before their time. Avocado is grown in several parts of Kenya and about 70% of avocado production is by small-scale growers. They grow it for subsistence, local markets, and export purposes.
Traders take advantage of high demand and harvest fruit that is not well grown
Avocados from large scale farmers that are regulated tend to have very few to no defects. To be honest, you can never go wrong with these. Even when you buy 5 and eat them within the week, you will get the same taste and the fruit ripens uniformly.
Why this hurts
First, they take up to a week or two to ripen.
Second, they ripen in patches. It starts with the top and then after 3 days, it spreads out. By the time it is “fully ripe” the top part is already rotten.
Concerns over farmers harvesting avocados before their time. Government has on different occasions banned or restricted the exportation of avocados due to farmers not complying with the set standards.
Perhaps a different approach can be used to deal with this problem because it is very difficult to buy Kenya when Kenyan growers don’t play by the rules of the game.
