Cold storage solutions for avocado value chain in

Cold storage solutions for avocado value chain in Kenya, Thaddeus Ochieng (M. A - University of Kenya) Context Needs/Challenges • • Kenya's avocado export is valued at $140 million dollars Post-production storage and transport subject to damaging field conditions and exposure to adverse weather leads to 41% in post harvest losses Smallholder farmers dominate the marketd--90% of production value Strategy/Opportunity ∙ ∙ ∙ • • • High (41 -70%) post-harvest losses and waste of avocado produced Ineffective packing and transportation services from point of production to companies/markets Lack of post harvest storage facilities for smallholder farmers Dependency on rain fed agriculture and manual labor Project partners Strong demand for cold storage structures • Deployment of value addition processes using various postharvest technologies like waxing, modified atmosphere • storage (MAP) and the use of 1 -Methylcyclopropene (1 -MCP) to • improve shelf life of avocados Improvement of post harvest handling services for packing & transporting avocados at point of production Blended Government/DFI funding for capital costs of storage solutions Deployment of relevant technologies such as the Haifa Group’s Multicote avocado tree precision fertilizer Cluster of Israeli post harvest technologies including ROP Limited’s shelf- life extension technologies and Eshet Elion’s packing technology