- A gov’t inspection team cleared the Telanet aggregation centre in Kericho for completion, confirming the contractor met required standards and paving the way for a facility that will serve as a collection, storage, grading and value‑addition hub for avocados.
- Once operational, the centre will support about 2,000 farmers, with leaders urging incentives for tree planting and stronger cooperative structures to shield growers from cartels.
A government inspection team has given the green light to an avocado aggregation centre under construction in Telanet, Kapsoit location, Kericho County, clearing the contractor to proceed to the facility’s final stage of works.
The inspection, led by National Aggregation Centres chairman Eng. Muhaji Kombo, was carried out by a technical team from the Ministry of Agriculture that included Principal Accountant Anthony Munene, Procurement Officer Shirley Kilimo and Agricultural Officer Musyoka Ndisya. The team assessed the completed structures against the approved Bill of Quantities during a fact-finding visit to the site.
During the inspection, Kombo confirmed that the contractor had met required standards despite financing the project from personal resources.
Kombo dismissed claims that funds had been misused or the project stalled, urging committees to work closely with the contractor to ensure timely completion.
Kombo asked committee members if they were satisfied with the progress and whether partial payment should be made to enable further work, receiving unanimous approval. However, officials requested benchmarking opportunities to better understand how a complete aggregation facility should operate
Sitting on half an acre of land, the facility will serve as a collection hub offering cold-room storage, grading and value addition before the fruit is released to both local and export markets. Once operational, it is expected to create employment for local youth, helping to ease the migration of jobseekers to cities and towns.
An estimated 2,000 avocado farmers from Telanet and its environs, most with an average of more than 20 mature trees each, are expected to benefit from the hub.
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The project is also being framed as a contribution to climate change mitigation, with organisers linking avocado cultivation in the area to the government’s wider tree-growing and carbon-trading targets under its Vision 2032 agenda.
Techlong Langat, chairman of the aggregation project committee, urged the government to incentivise avocado tree planting, not only for food security but also as a future raw material for fuel extraction and carbon trading. They said the aggregation hub would empower farmers to form cooperatives, negotiate better prices, and secure markets both locally and abroad.
Langat added that the era of middlemen profiting without investing in production was coming to an end, and urged farmers who had previously uprooted their avocado trees due to losses to replant them.
The aggregation drive follows a sensitisation campaign led by Dr. Rono, which has included distribution of Hass avocado seedlings and support for aggregation centres in several counties, a push that farmers in the region say has renewed their confidence in the crop.
Rodah Maritim, a 90‑year‑old farmer, recalled years of losses to middlemen but said she had replanted Hass avocados after renewed government sensitisation campaigns. She noted the fruit’s year‑round yields and low labour demands, though warning that brokers, pests, and diseases remain major threats.
At her peak, Maritim harvested more than 500 kilogrammes of avocados a season, with farm-gate prices ranging between Ksh 10 and Ksh 80 per kilogramme, returns she said outstripped any other cash crop she had grown. She said she preferred Hass avocados for their all-season yield and lower labour demands, though she cited brokers, disease and pests as the crop’s biggest threats.
She urged young people to heed the advice of local leaders and take up opportunities in the sector
By Ken Langat
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