Avomeru Group Ltd

Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa rarely reap the full fruits of their labour. Farmers face a number of challenges such as sub-optimal yields, food losses and waste, and unfair market returns. Farmers' vulnerability is a reflection of agricultural practices and low added-value on their produce sold locally or exported globally. After harvest, avocados in particular are prone to spoilage and in Tanzania; typically 85% of harvested avocados go to waste due to storage, cooling and transportation constraints. Tanzania produces about tons every year but only 11,200 tons reach the global market. This represents a huge economic opportunity to capture value from these under-utilised avocados and to develop products with higher shelf life and with high-demand on the regional and international market. Avomeru group Ltd is the startup social enterprise strengthening farmer's livelihoods by producing organic cold-pressed avocado oil. The grand purpose of the project is to reduce post-harvest food loss in avocado value chains, ensuring an additional income for smallholder farmers, and creating job opportunities for youth involvement in agriculture. Through production and marketing of avocado oil, we save hundreds of tons of avocados from going to waste by processing them into a highly demanded product with long shelf-life. We provide income generating opportunities for farmers to utilise the resources they already have.