Our Farmers

At Mavuno, our committed farmers cultivate perfection

Behind every outstanding Mavuno product is an exceptional Mavuno farmer. Mavuno’s farmers are guardians of the land, working tirelessly to draw the very best from their well-cared-for soil. From the first seedling to the first harvest, our farmers are on the ground and in the field every step of the journey. Nurturing every crop for as many as three years until it’s ripened to perfection and ready for the world to enjoy.

When producing world-class avocados, the work never stops

All year round, our teams work tirelessly to oversee the seamless and ongoing production of Mavuno’s exceptional harvest. For our farmers, the rewards are more than worth the effort. As part of the extended Mavuno family, our farmers enjoy a consistent market, robust systems, advisory services, certifications, and accounting assistance.

This well-oiled machine of support and guidance empowers our farmers to evolve into entrepreneurs, proudly producing the finest goods and achieving new professional heights.

Supporting our all-important smallholder farmers

We are proud pioneers in Kenya’s organic produce industry. Our businesses, farms, and growers are all dedicated to achieving the pinnacle of organic farming practices. We ensure all our farmers know climate change and support them in mitigating its effects.

We provide training, knowledge, and resources, cultivating a mindset of collective care for our planet so that each of our farmers is driven to protect our environment by adopting sustainable farming systems.

Rigorous standards of quality and excellence

Throughout our farming network, a culture of impeccable standards permeates. All our farmers understand and respect non-EU organic agriculture standards, such as GlobalGap, Grasp, and SMETA.

These standards and regulations not only demonstrate our farmers’ lasting commitment to producing the highest-quality food with the lowest environmental impact, but they also enhance the economic impact on our farmers and improve their labourers’ working conditions.

Ensuring our farmers reap the rewards of the produce they sow

At Mavuno, we share our success with all those who help create it. That’s why we’re proud to provide a stable platform where our farmers can negotiate fair and reasonable prices and rely on an international market’s consistent availability.

This means our farmers enjoy an essential boost in income, the benefits of which ripple from our farmers through their families and on into their wider communities, from building homes to higher education, medical bills, and consistent access to food. By selling to Mavuno, numerous people and communities have experienced transformational positive change.

Undertaking best-in-class avocado growing practices

As part of the Mavuno network, our farmers uphold themselves and their produce to uniquely high standards. Aligned with our vision to produce exceptional Kenyan organic goods, our farmers adhere to various growing practices that represent the pinnacle of contemporary farming.

Cultivating the ultimate in organic fertilisation

Phenomenal avocados begin with phenomenal soil. This is why we strive to ensure that any nutrients our crops absorb are replenished directly back into the soil they came from. We do this by using superior organic fertilisers.

We encourage our farmers to nurture the richest compost possible. They harness dry and green matter foraged from their farms and masterfully manipulate it into a nutrient-filled compost.

This natural substance can increase soil humus, a dark, dense organic material pivotal to healthy soil. This increases the soil’s ability to hold water, creating the perfect environment for favourable microbes to thrive.

Unsatisfied with leaving anything up to chance, every speck of compost and manure that makes it onto our soil is closely inspected with a critical eye. It’s analysed for nutrient content and signs of heavy metals or other contaminating substances. It is ready to be carefully put to work only once it surpasses our exacting standards.

Managing the danger of fruit flies

The humble fruit fly may seem harmless, but it can do untold damage to crops. Fruit flies can cause blemishes and rot, reduce yield, and even spread diseases. Any harm to their harvest has a knock-on effect on our farmers’ income, so we use cutting-edge processes to intervene at the earliest possible sign.

We continuously monitor our crops for fruit flies and arm our farmers with biological traps and best-practice integrated pest management (IPM). Above and beyond these rigorous measures, we remain vigilant for any signs of diseases or pests that could harm our farmers’ crops. Should any issues arise, our team of agronomists spring into action and work in partnership with our farmers to keep the situation under strict control.

Encouraging picture-perfect pruning

Pruning is pivotal in more ways than one. It increases airflow throughout the orchard, allowing more much-needed sunlight to touch the trees. It’s also an effective pest and disease management tool. There’s more to pruning than meets the eye. It’s both an art and a science, and we support our farmers in employing the correct methods and techniques to do it justice.

Nurturing nature’s powerhouse: the trees

Effective farming is about more than the crops that make it from the field to the plate. It’s about the surrounding environment and a flourishing ecosystem where trees play an all-important role.

Trees can increase soil quality, boost biodiversity, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Mavuno’s farmers encourage tree growth by creating dedicated areas known as ‘woodlots’, where abundant trees do their part to aid atmospheric carbon capture.

Kenya’s indigenous trees are of particular significance to us here at Mavuno, and protecting and propagating these precious plants is a priority. In dedication to this, we’ve created a programme encouraging our farmers and others to plant indigenous trees. Many of these trees have miraculous benefits, including traditional medicinal uses and ancient knowledge passed down from generation to generation.

If every farmer in the world took the same level of care in this space, the planet would undoubtedly be an altogether different place.

Building biodiversity through mixed farming

Visit any of our farms, and you’re likely to stroll alongside bushes of beans one moment and a thriving banana plant the next. You may find macadamia beside indigenous trees while healthy and happy livestock wander amongst vibrant vegetable patches.

None of this natural wonder has occurred by accident. It’s all done by careful design, following the proven principles of permaculture and agroforestry.

Permaculture is a holistic farming system designed to create sustainable human environments by echoing the natural ecosystem. Agroforestry is an approach that encourages mixed farming, with numerous crops and even livestock coexisting in natural harmony. Mavuno’s farmers embrace both these farming philosophies and have achieved extraordinary success.

Mavuno’s mixed farming approach sees our farmers nurture fields full of rich biodiversity. Here, a delicately balanced ecosystem brings forth unusually robust crops. Compared to their monoculture-farmed cousins, these crops need far less protection and enjoy much more delicious flavour. The benefits of this meticulous planning are myriad: increasing sustainability, producing quality, and ensuring economic stability.