NAIROBI, May 17 (Xinhua) -- In the lush green countryside of Murang'a County in central Kenya, Jeff Ngigi Mburu relished the majestic canopy of his Hass avocado trees, swaying to the rhythm of the afternoon breeze.
The young farmer enjoyed chatting with several laborers from nearby villages whom he had hired to pick mature avocados for delivery to a collection center and later to a Chinese-owned processing factory for avocado oil based on the outskirts of Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.
"We have been having some challenges in the past, but the avocado oil processors have come to our rescue, providing us with a steady market for our fruits and better prices," Mburu told Xinhua at his farm on Friday.
He is among hundreds of Kenyan small-scale avocado farmers who sell their produce directly to Sanmark Limited, a Chinese-owned avocado oil processing company located in the Athi River Export Processing Zone, the southeastern industrial hub of Nairobi.
Amid a beehive of activities on the factory floor of Sanmark Ltd., Mohamed Khan, the operations manager, took time to oversee the offloading of succulent avocados that had just been delivered for crushing into crude oil.
"When the fruits come to the factory, we store them until they achieve the right ripeness. A sorting team then brings them to the crushing machine to separate dry matter and water," Khan said.
"The next process is to separate water from the fruit, after which it enters the final stage of packaging the avocado oil," he added.
Sanmark Ltd. has state-of-the-art machinery for processing and testing avocado oil to ensure it attains the required standards for export to China and other overseas markets such as Europe and the United States.
Khan pointed out the growing demand for avocado oil in Kenya and abroad, citing its nutritional and health benefits, which have brought significant gains for local growers.
China's zero-tariff policy, which was implemented on May 1, promises better times for all players in the avocado value chain, including farmers, aggregators, processors, and exporters.
"We are already enjoying the zero tariff. It encourages Chinese investors to come in droves and set up ICT centers for training local farmers," Khan said.
"Before the zero tariff, we had limited resources in terms of funding that we could give to farmers, but with that tariff gone, there is extra funding left for the investor, which can then be passed on to the farmer. It empowers the farmer," he added.
Khan said the facility aims to collect up to 100 tons of avocados weekly and bridge the interaction gap between the processing factory and farmers.
The avocado oil processing factory has also provided gainful employment to local skilled youth like Ann Mwende, the quality control manager at Sanmark Ltd., who majored in analytical chemistry at a public university.
Mwende has already broken the glass ceiling by venturing into a previously male-dominated field, and her day job involves analyzing moisture and dry matter in avocados delivered to the factory for crushing into oil.
She noted that the processing of avocado oil has provided steady revenue streams for factory workers and farmers, while the anticipated refinery plant to be set up by Sanmark will create new jobs for trained personnel.
"The refinery plant will have a positive impact. We are now two people in the lab, but we will have more. That means more job opportunities. We will be practicing what we learn and teaching more people," Mwende said.
Virginia Mbatha, the chief executive officer of Virginia Orchards, an aggregator, said that her company has been supplying Sanmark with different avocado varieties for processing into oil.
With nearly 10,000 farmers in her network, Mbatha said they are getting higher price margins thanks to the ready market provided by the Chinese avocado oil processor.
She hailed China's tax exemption on avocados and agricultural produce imported from Kenya, saying it has enlarged the market for local growers, aggregators, and exporters.
"We thank China for giving us this zero-tariff opportunity. We will be able to produce more avocados, and farmers will enjoy higher profit margins. Now we are seeing the benefits reaching the farmer," Mbatha said. ■