Avocado farmers contracted by Kakuzi earned Kes 31.4 million from the agricultural firm in the year ended December, a 45.6 per cent decline from kes 57.9 million recorded the year before.
The decline was attributed to lower export quantities besides a decline in the price of the fruit in the international markets, the company says in its latest annual report.
The number of avocado cartons sold fell to 94,064 in the review period from 154,858 a year earlier.
This saw gross export sales decline from kes 132.7 million to kes 77.8 million from which Kakuzi deducted the costs of packing, distributing and marketing the product before paying smallholders the bulk of the residual amount.
Consequently, the net price per carton declined from a range of between €5.69 and €5.99 to between €4.78 and €5.03 which was attributed to a higher fruit supply from Peru, and Columbia.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm said the latest payout was equivalent to 87 per cent of the net returns, an improvement from 85 per cent in 2020. Kakuzi’s pre-tax profit from the dealings with the farmers more than halved to kes 2.3 million from kes 5.3 million.
The firm works with thousands of smallholder avocado farmers. It has been encouraging farmers to plant the Hass avocado variety due to its popularity and ability to attract good prices in the international markets.
“Avocado production volumes were lower than in 2020, and we could not meet all of our customers’ orders. However, it is instructive to note that the Kakuzi order book from the international markets was far more than we could supply, signifying continued market confidence and trust in our products.” the agriculture company said as quoted by business daily.
Avocado has become a significant export crop for local agricultural firms and independent smallholder farmers.
Read also; Kakuzi Plc 2021 Net Earnings falls 48.5% to KSh 319.7 Million.
