Inside the Naivasha avocado oil project: how Konza Tropicals is adding value to East African avocados

For every container of export grade Hass that leaves Mombasa, roughly half as much fruit again stays behind: too small, too blemished or too ripe for a four week sea voyage. For a decade that fruit was sold cheaply on local markets or left under the trees. Konza Tropicals' answer is a value addition plant of its own, in the Naivasha Special Economic Zone, that turns oil grade fruit into one of the fastest growing products in the global avocado trade.

Why Naivasha

Naivasha sits in the heart of the Rift Valley growing areas, on the Nairobi to Nakuru highway and the standard gauge railway to Mombasa, with geothermal power and industrial water. The Special Economic Zone adds a single licensing window and the tax and duty treatment that makes a capital intensive processing plant viable. Konza Tropicals holds a 50 year lease on 2.403 hectares in the zone, designated for avocado oil processing, production and storage.

What the plant will do

• Extraction: cold pressed crude avocado oil from Hass and Fuerte fruit, using the same decanter technology as the olive oil industry, supplied by Italian equipment makers.
• Refining and bottling: refined, bleached and deodorised oil for cooking oil brands, extra virgin oil for retail, and cosmetic grades, bottled under customer brands.
• Later phases: frozen avocado pulp, dried fruit lines and compost from pomace and stones, returned to the farms that supply the fruit.

Where the fruit comes from

Three streams feed the plant: Konza Tropicals' own 200 hectares of Hass in the Rift Valley, an outgrower register that grows every season across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, and the oil grade fruit that partner packhouses across the Rift Valley and Central Kenya cannot export. Growers are paid at the farm gate in the harvest week, which is the practice that makes the difference between a programme that lasts and one that does not.

Who buys the oil

Crude avocado oil moves in 22 tonne flexitanks to refiners in Italy, Spain, Germany and the United States, and in drums to cosmetic ingredient houses. Konza Tropicals already supplies crude oil from partner plants in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania under supply contracts and letters of intent with European and North American buyers, and those relationships move to the Naivasha plant as it comes on line. Specifications and logistics are explained here.

What it means for growers and the county

A guaranteed buyer for oil grade fruit means income from the whole tree, not only the export grade. Food loss falls, rural jobs are created in Nakuru County, and the residues go back to the soil as compost. The company reports on farmer income, volumes, certification, jobs and residues returned, and welcomes offtake, technology and development partners who want to be part of the project.

Timeline

Site activation and licensing in 2026, first phase commissioning targeted for 2027, with crude oil exports continuing from partner plants in the meantime. Read more about the project or see our avocado oil offer.