India opens market for Kenyan avocados

New Delhi [India], September 20 (ANI): India has given market access for the export of Kenyan avocados, which will help increase the availability of the superfood in the country at lower prices. 

Kenyan High Commission termed it a “milestone”, saying it will cement the ties between the two nations. 

Kenyan farmers would be able to export avocados to India. In India, avocado is not a commercial fruit crop and is grown in small quantities in some southern states.

Speaking to ANI, Kenyan Deputy High Commissioner Irene A. Oloo said the import will increase in accessibility of Kenyan avocadoes in the Indian market.

“The prices of avocadoes are very high. The entry of Kenyan avocadoes will help lower the prices and increase access,” she said.

According to the latest official FAO statistics, Kenya is now the world’s sixth-largest avocado producer, with a planting area of nearly 26,000 ha and a production of 417,000 tonnes in 2021, double of that in 2016. 

“This (the deal) will deepen market access through the grant of access for Kenyan Avocados into India. Kenyan stakeholders in the avocado value chain are vigilant in meeting the sanitary and phytosanitary conditions set by different markets. We therefore expect the Indian market to receive high-quality avocadoes from Kenya,” said Kenyan Deputy High Commissioner Irene A. Oloo, at the launch event here.

Kenya and India have been carrying out negotiation talks over the avocado export for the last eight years. Kenya requested India to allow market access for Kenyan avocados.

India allowed exports of Kenyan avocados to India on August 16. Kenya hopes that the starting of imports of Kenyan avocadoes will help narrow the trade imbalance between the two nations.

The value of trade between the two countries has been growing over the years from 0.97 billion USD in 2008 to USD 1.83 billion in 2022. In 2022, the value of Kenyan imports from India was approximately USD 1.70 billion while Kenyan exports to India were valued at about USD 67.21 million.

In India, avocado is not a commercial fruit crop. It was introduced from Sri Lanka in the early part of the twentieth century. On a very limited scale and in a scattered way it is grown in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Karnataka in south-central India and in the eastern Himalayan state of Sikkim.

The avocado can not tolerate the hot dry winds and frosts of northern India. Climatically, it is grown in tropical or semitropical areas experiencing some rainfall in summer, and in humid, subtropical summer rainfall areas. (ANI)