Olivado in Kenya

It wasn’t long before it became apparent that the avocado supply in New Zealand was insufficient to keep up with the growing international demand for our extra virgin avocado oil.

After a long search, we found the Central Highlands of Kenya perfect for growing avocados, and set about working with the local farmers to start a production plant managed and staffed by Kenyans.

Beautiful country, beautiful people...

In 2007 we began a pilot project in a temporary facility near Nairobi, and within six months had sourced over 700 small farm holdings. Today that number is almost 2000, with the majority of our farmers women.

We have created hundreds of direct and thousands of indirect jobs, both at the factory and on the farms, helping improve the livelihoods of our farmers through increased income, enabling them to purchase and maintain livestock, educate their children, and build quality homes.

Africa Olivado Stockists

SUSTAINABILITY

Olivado's commitment to sustainability

Doing our bit to help communities and the planet

Sustainability Plus

Our approach

We believe in doing no harm to people or planet and healthy oils are just the beginning. We are leading the way with innovative strategies to eliminate any impact from our oil production and bring about results that will leave a positive result for the environment – going beyond sustainable.

farming sustainability
Olivado biogas plant

BIOGAS PLANT

Biogas - a smart, sustainable solution

We have our own incredible biogas plant, which allows us to use the by-products from our factory to power it, provide fuel for vehicles, and produce 3,000 MT of fertilizer.

The Kenya Biogas Plant

A template for future projects

These two huge white domes dominate the landscape alongside the Sagana River, near Murang’a in the Central Highlands of Kenya. With this clean natural gas, Olivado can power the two generators which run the factory, coolstores and our packhouse.

At 6m high and 22m across they dwarf the sizable factory and packhouse next door, where Olivado packs fresh avocados for export to Europe and produces 90% of the World’s organic extra virgin avocado oil.

This uses all of our waste, producing 286,000 litres of diesel equivalent, or 1.5m kWh of energy, making our operations totally sustainable.

All of the vehicles we use at the site, including the trucks used by our teams of avocado pickers, the field officers’ cars, and the staff buses, are all fueled by natural gas cylinders, filled as required at the bottling plant.

Pipes leading from the generators to the production plant carry hot water used in processing, running it through a heat exchange system which then sends cold water back to the generators.

Olivado fair trade

FAIR TRADE AND LOCAL

Fair Trade - Caring for our farmers

Olivado buys our avocados directly from small bio-diverse farms, paying a premium set price, thus bypassing brokers and guaranteeing the farmers a regular income.

Our Organic Farmers

Helping farmers and communities to prosper

We have improved the livelihoods among our contracted farmers through increased income from avocado production which has enabled them to construct decent residential houses, purchase and maintain livestock such as dairy cows, educate their children and also to increase their acrerage under production through purchase of extra land for avocado and other crops. Our advance produce payment help farmers meet immediate needs and emergencies such as hospital bills and school fees.

Olivado has created 500 direct jobs and thousands of indirect jobs both at the factory and in the farms. Skills in plant propagation and general crop management have been enhanced within the local community which has lead to improved quality and productivity of avocados and other crops.

Kenyan farmers
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Sustainability

Olivado are leading the way in the avocado industry with our approach to regeneration, sustainability and utilising all waste to energy. We work hard to leave our communities and environment in a better state than when we started. We are carbon neutral now and we have made a commitment to be carbon positive by 2022. Shop with us and do your part for the planet.