Kenya avocado season calendar 2026/27: Hass and Fuerte harvest windows by region

Kenya is the only major avocado origin whose main harvest runs through the northern hemisphere spring and summer, which is exactly when Spain, Israel and Mexico are at their lowest. That counter season is the reason European ripeners, Gulf importers and Asian retailers build programmes around Kenyan fruit. This guide sets out the 2026/27 calendar as we see it from our plantations and partner orchards, with the practical rules that decide whether a container ships.

The headline calendar

Our own Hass plantations in the Rift Valley sit at an altitude that gives us a long, even season rather than a sharp peak, and our partner orchards in Tanzania extend supply from September to December when Kenyan volumes taper off. That is how we offer programme buyers 52 weeks of supply from East Africa.

Why the regions stagger

Kenya grows avocados from sea level to over 2,000 metres. Altitude and rainfall pattern set the flowering date and the speed at which fruit accumulates oil, so the harvest moves across the country rather than happening at once.

• Rift Valley (Nakuru, Baringo, Uasin Gishu, Nandi): warm valley floors give the earliest Hass, from late February; higher farms around Nandi and Uasin Gishu carry fruit into September.
• Central Kenya (Murang'a, Kiambu, Nyeri, Kirinyaga): the traditional smallholder heartland. Main Hass flush April to July with a second, smaller flush from the long rains flowering in some years.
• Eastern (Meru, Embu, Machakos, Makueni): Meru and Embu, on the slopes of Mount Kenya, give some of the latest and highest dry matter fruit, often into October.
• Western Kenya (Kisii, Nyamira, Kakamega): volumes are rising fast from newer orchards; the season tracks Central Kenya.

Dry matter decides the start, not the calendar

In Kenya the Agriculture and Food Authority, through the Horticultural Crops Directorate, opens the Hass export season each year only after national dry matter sampling shows the fruit has reached maturity, and inspectors test every export consignment. We harvest at a minimum of 24 per cent dry matter for Europe and 23 per cent for shorter sea routes, and we test every block ourselves with a portable NIR analyser before the harvest crews go in. Fruit picked too early will not ripen evenly and is the single most common cause of claims; fruit picked late ripens too fast for long transits. Asking your supplier for the dry matter result on the pre loading quality report is the best protection a buyer has.

Sizes and what each market takes

Kenyan Hass runs small to medium compared with Peru. Counts 14 to 24 in a 4 kg carton (or sizes 12 to 24 in our 10 kg crates) suit European retail and ripeners; counts 26 to 32 go to food service, the Gulf and processing. Early season fruit skews large; late season fruit skews small. A realistic packing profile for a programme is 65 to 75 per cent sizes 12 to 24 and the balance 26 to 30, which is how we price our ExWorks and CIF offers.

What the 2026/27 season looks like

Good long rains in 2026 set a heavy flowering across Central Kenya and the Rift Valley, so we expect strong volumes from March 2027 and a normal start date in late February for early areas. Our own orchard programme and the outgrower register are being planned on two reefer containers a week to Spain and the Netherlands from March, with Gulf and Asian programmes alongside. Oil grade fruit from the same harvest feeds our avocado oil partners.

See our Hass and Green skin specifications, transit times by market, or request a programme offer for 2027.