Horticulture is the leading foreign exchange earner in the country, earning over Ksh 153 Billion in 2021. Fruits accounted for over Ksh 17 billion Avocado earned Ksh.14.4 billion with banana exports earned over Ksh 3.6 million. These earnings have ranked Kenya 6th and 112th in the world for exports of avocado and banana respectively.
Despite this tremendous success, Kenya has not exploited her full potential since we only export about 10% of the avocado we produce and even less for bananas.
Avocado and banana value chains have with no doubt become very important economic fruit crops that need to be prioritized and given the production, marketing, and promotion attention they deserve backed with budgetary support by all stakeholders both in Government and private sector.
Fresh Produce of Consortium of Kenya (FPC Kenya) with support from USAID through RTI’s Kenya Crops and Dairy Market Systems (KCDMS) has developed a digital marketing strategy to boost the visibility of Kenyan Avocados and Bananas in the local and international market. The strategy seeks to exploit digital tools to better connect with the global market, improve information dissemination, change consumer attitudes and improve access to Kenyan avocado and bananas in the global marketplace.
With the launch of this Digital Marketing Strategy and Campaign, we are focused and determined to grow Kenya’s market share in European Union Countries, the UK, the Middle East, Korea, India, and China
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To grow the market and meet our desired and ambitious plan we must increase the production of good quality Avocados and Bananas, and develop and maintain high-quality post-harvest handling facilities and processes. We must market our Avocado with the right Dry Matter (DM) of 24% and above.
High-level Branding, Leveling, demonstrating and maintaining a watertight traceability system, and speaking of our best weather coupled with timely delivery of our products/produce to the market are some of the efforts/practices that we must effectively and efficiently coordinate for the benefit of these value chains.
Dynamic and uniquely new demands set by our existing and new markets present new challenges and opportunities in equal measure to Kenyan farmers and exporters, we need to adopt the use of new technologies for harvesting and post-harvest handling and fulfillment to ensure that we retain and satisfy our local and international consumers.
Following numerous challenges that these two values face Fresh Produce Consortium of Kenya (FPC Kenya) has embarked on partnerships and collaborations with our Kenyan Foreign Missions and Embassies in Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, UK, Korea, UAE, India, and China most of whom are represented in this launch this morning to triple our exports in the next four years.
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We have also partnered with Kenya Airways to deliver our products/produce to the market in record time
I would like to thank specially USAID through RTI for this partnership and for supporting us to develop this strategy that we believe will go a long way to unlock our potential to increase and grow our domestic and export market as we sought to find lasting solutions that will be beneficial to all stakeholders in these value chains.
Lastly, I would like to appeal to other partners and stakeholders to collaborate and partner with us to grow these value chains as I thank the Centre for Business Innovation and Training (CBT) for helping us develop this strategy.
FPC Kenya evaluated the need to promote and boost the production and export of these value chains by embracing technology and designing a campaign that will the world to indulge/enjoy the unique goodness of Kenyan Avocado and Bananas.
