On a busy canal-side street in central Amsterdam, the world’s first avocado-themed restaurant has become a foodie tourist destination, capitalising on the avocado’s association with wellness and healthy eating. The menu is filled with options like avocado chips, several ornate iterations of avocado toast, and burgers topped with glistening green avocado halves instead of traditional buns.

Often called the ‘green gold’, avocados have become an integral part of European cuisine in recent years. Once the brunch choice of hipsters and yogis, the fruit is now mainstream and demand continues to soar in cafes and grocery stores from Amsterdam to London.

Seen as a ‘superfood’, health-conscious Europeans' demand for avocados has made Europe the world's second-largest consumer, with the Netherlands becoming the continent’s distribution hub, importing 378,591 tonnes of avocados in 2023. It exported about 345,890 tons of fresh or dried avocados in the same year, making the Netherlands the largest non-producing exporter of avocados in the world.

But this culinary obsession comes at an ecological cost.

In Kenya, where the climate crisis is making itself felt with record rainfall, long periods of drought and unexpected weather changes, growing demand for Kenya's creamy and luscious Hass and Fuerte avocados is leading Kenyan farmers to rely more on chemicals and pesticides.

Avocados are a thirsty crop. Around 320 litres of water are needed to produce a single avocado, four times as much as an orange and ten times as much as a tomato.

The fruit’s long journey from Kenyan orchards to large ports such as Rotterdam just 80km south of Amsterdam, and onwards to European markets, contributes further to the ecological footprint of this desirable harvest.

Thousands of miles away from Amsterdam’s trendy eateries, in the verdant hills of Muranga County, lies the heart of the Kenyan avocado industry. Farmers like Frederick Kinyanjui work long hours battling climate-induced impacts on their small avocado plantations.

On a sunny morning, he is wearing an orange protective coat, grey trousers and sturdy rubber boots. A yellow canister of pesticides hangs on his back to combat the fungal infestation that is threatening his valuable harvest.

He says climate change is forcing avocado farmers to resort to such chemical aids more than they previously did. Unpredictable weather conditions mean that pests and diseases are increasingly attacking the avocado trees.

"There are more fruit flies and codling moths," he explains. Rising temperatures, floods and dry periods allow these pests to thrive. The quality of the fruit suffers as a result, which "is then no longer suitable for export," says Kinyanjui.

He says that without plant protection and pest control, he cannot safeguard his valuable avocado trees, which take up to four years to harvest. Kinyanjui says he always applies the chemicals with gloves and protective equipment but admits that not all farmers handle these potentially dangerous substances so carefully.

In Muranga, which lies at an altitude of 1200 to 2000 meters above sea level, the avocado can be harvested twice a year: from March to July and from September to November. Kinyanjui usually can harvest seven tons of the fruit from half a hectare per season.

This abundance owes to Muranga’s volcanic and nutrient-rich soils and a humid but not-too-hot climate that is ideal for growing avocados. As a result, the county has become the centre of the country's avocado production. Estimates suggest that over 70 percent of Kenya's avocados are harvested here.

Kenya’s avocado exports represent some 82 percent of all avocados exported from East Africa. In 2024, Kenya’s avocado production reached a record 562 thousand metric tons (TMT) making it the leading producer of the fruit in Africa. The country’s avocado production value is expected to reach a record of $175 million this year. Kenya is now one of the largest exporters of avocados outside the traditional Latin American market, responsible for the vast majority of global exports of the fruit. 

Avocado production is currently experiencing enormous growth. Estimates from the
UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) agency shows that by 2030 the trade volume of avocados among tropical fruits will only be surpassed by bananas.

The history of avocado cultivation in Kenya began with Portuguese settlers who introduced the fruit in the 1930s. By the 1960s, commercial cultivation was in full swing. Though Kenya is famous for its tea, coffee and flower exports, in recent years, many farmers have switched to avocado cultivation because of the huge demand in Europe. The industry is dominated by small holder farmers who usually grow avocados on less than two hectares. The fruit thrives so well here that "almost every family has at least 10 to 20 trees," says Kinyanjui.

But this increasing production fuelled by global demand has not come without consequences.

The Route to Food Initiative, an NGO based in Nairobi, said in a 2023 report that dangerous pesticides are routinely used in the Kenyan farming sector. Half of these chemicals are banned in the EU because of health and environmental risks, suggesting a concerning double standard.

In Muranga County, some farmers and labourers regularly handle hazardous chemicals without gloves, masks and other protective gear. Some told us that local chemical manufacturers also market their products directly to them. And whilst some of these farmers have experience in handling pesticides, it is doubtful that they are all fully aware of the risks involved.

Farmer Ann Wanjira Nyutu has grown many different vegetables and fruits such as corn, bananas and beans on her two-and-a-half hectares of lush farmland. But she is now following the trend and is increasingly focusing on avocados, which she says "bring good money."

However, the increasing number of pests is also causing her problems. Unlike her colleague Frederick Kinyanjui, she cannot afford pesticides, which means that traders will not buy her harvest. "Only first-class avocados are suitable for Europe," she explains.

After the harvest seasons, the farmers sell their avocados to middlemen, who pass them on to large processing plants where the fruit is sorted. Margaret, who only wants to give her first name, works in quality control for one of these European exporters. "…we look for signs of disease and assess whether the avocados are in good condition," she says.

The avocados are then shipped by trucks to Mombasa and then in containers to Rotterdam, the avocado capital of Europe. "They are refrigerated containers with a constant temperature that ensures optimal transport conditions," explains Margaret. "The shelf life of export avocados is 35 to 48 days." The fruits are shipped green and firm so that they do not ripen too much during transport.

It is not just pests and diseases that avocado farmers in Muranga County are struggling with, but also the fluctuating income for their produce. Despite their hard work, the market often dictates such low prices that they can barely make ends meet. Although selling avocados is more lucrative than selling coffee or tea, they still feel they are not getting enough for their efforts. The reason for this is that the brokers, traders and Kenyan exporters who bring the fruit to the world market take the majority of profits. 

Farmer Arthur Kamau believes the middleman system is unfair. "Growing avocados is very expensive, but exporters make most of the money," he says. It is almost impossible for farmers to sell their fruit themselves and thus achieve higher prices. "We have no choice but to accept the price the broker offers us." Small scale producers feel at the mercy of a system that primarily benefits the larger market players.

Kinyanjui also believes that farmers like him rarely get a good selling price for their crops due to a system that barely supports their work. For a long time, the Avocado Association of Kenya represented the interests of producers, exporters and others in the avocado value chain. Then suddenly in January 2024, the Kenya Agriculture and Food Authority withdrew the association's license over allegations of irregularities and violations of membership regulations. This caused shock among farmers, as it made it clear to them that small avocado producers would no longer have an association to represent their interests.

Kamau, like other farmers in Muranga County, would like more government support. But he says the politicians in Nairobi do not help them. He has been a farmer for over twenty years and wants to leave something for his children. But he says he is struggling with numerous and ever-growing problems on his two-hectare avocado farm.

He believes the best thing would be for farmers like him to sell directly to avocado sellers in European cities like Amsterdam or London.

"A functioning market would be the best thing for us," says Kamau. As long as there is no such market, he believes, middlemen will dominate the Kenyan avocado industry. "These guys are simply killing us."

This report was supported by Journalismfund Europe