Avocado Farming and Creamy Profits: A Complete Guide

What’s green, expensive, and healthy all over? Avocado!

This humble fruit has taken the world by storm with its rich flavor, high nutritional value, and yes, its price tag. But don’t let that deter you because it has a strong and growing domestic and international market demand and if you’re looking for new-age farming avenues for investment, you came to the right place.

The biggest question people would ask is why avocado? Or any other high-value crop for that matter and what I always tell them is that the land, water and other resources are not that cheap anymore, especially in bigger cities, to justify farming traditional crops.

The only way you can maintain a farm in a city like Islamabad or Lahore or even in central or southern Punjab is by growing something that’s highly profitable and can serve your locality.

The Avocado Production Technology

So if you have the motivation but don’t know where to start, the first thing you should take care of is the site selection. While avocados are suited to sandy loam-type soil with a pH of 6.5-7.5, they can grow well in all kinds of soil of pH up to 8.5 except waterlogged and saline (salt-affected) soil. The soil also has to have proper drainage and no issue of standing water as it can damage the plant in the early years.

Plants are traditionally sown in 20×20 ft (row-to-row x plant-to-plant distance) but high-density farming is also an option where this distance is shortened to 8ft and per acre plant population can be tripled from 100 to more than 600. It aims to get higher production from less area and of course, lower costs as well and has been highly successful across other fruits like guavas, bananas, and mangoes.

But where to get its seeds or plants? This is where you will come across the first challenge.

“There is a limited plant availability of avocados for commercial production since its fruit is very expensive but we do provide limited plants through our hill fruit station located in Murree” stated Aqeel Feroze, Senior Scientist at Barani Agriculture Research Institute while talking to ProPakistani.

He added that avocados are highly sensitive towards low and high temperatures for the first three years but if you can take proper care during that time, they can survive in extreme environments pretty well later on.

Moreover, there are a number of private nurseries providing avocado plants in Islamabad, Lahore and other cities that deliver plants to your doorstep. Its prices range from Rs. 1,200 to Rs. 9,500 depending upon the size.

You may need to cover its plants with grass or rice straw in a process called over-head mulching during winter frost for the first three years to save them from frost, but if you have some investment, you can build a small green net tunnel with mist sprayers as well, so it can support the young plantation in both extreme winters and summers.

“It is important to choose the grafted plants instead of seed-grown ones to produce true to parent type fruits since these are cross-bred varieties, their seed-grown produce will not have any export value and are not recommended for commercial production. It is just like growing ‘langra’ mango through seed, you will get some amalgam of varieties but not the langra mango.”, said Safeer Abbas, Chief Agribusiness Consultant at BinQain Agro Services.

He said that seed-grown plants can have high mortality rates and have no guarantee of bearing fruits. Talking about the internationally recognized varieties, he said that the lula variety has been found suitable across the country while fuerte is good for foothill areas like Islamabad. Hass variety meanwhile stands at the top in international demand.

As for the irrigation, it demands light irrigation but at short intervals which means the soil around the plant should not get dry, especially in winter as it can exacerbate frost damage. It can be grown well even without installing any extensive drip irrigation system.

It is sometimes considered highly water intensive but its incomparable nutritional value and high profit margins trump that compared to crops like rice and especially if that money is spent back on economic and irrigation infrastructure development.

There is a chance that you might get scammed into buying seed-grown plants in the name of grafted or air-layered ones, but that happens with every emerging trend so you better learn to identify between both. The grafted plants show a joint where two parts would have been bundled together and in air-layering, you can dig up a little around the plant to ensure that the roots are emerging from the stem, not the seed.

Let’s Talk Some Numbers

It starts bearing fruit properly from the fourth year with initial yields of 120-200 kgs per plant which keep rising as the tree grows bigger. Tree height averages around 40ft in but can go higher as well while its price can range anywhere between Rs. 2,700 to Rs. 4,000 per kg depending upon how well you’re marketing your product.

But its high-density plantation requires dwarf varieties which Abbas pointed out are not available in Pakistan at the moment and if you take existing varieties into high density, the pruning becomes challenging, can disturb its growth pattern or even kill the plant.

“We are working on avocado cultivation in Pakistan since 2012 and recommend our clients to plant only 50 plants per acre (27×27 ft distance) and intercropping simultaneously of wheat, barley, chia, quinoa, papaya, or flowers. Conventional and high-density cultivation (discussed above) is only recommended for enterprise growers and big investors” added Abbas.

He said that it achieves two things. First, such a small farm is easy to manage for small landholders who can’t hire a lot of labour, and secondly, it does not hurt farmers’ economics by providing a continuous income source for the first three years when avocado provides no fruit and needs extreme care.

Initial investment on a 20×20 ft farming can be up to Rs. 200,000 and can go up to a million for high-density farms. It is on a per acre basis and excludes the monthly running costs which can be between Rs. 30,000-60,000 and the tunnel structure (if you opt for it) will cost Rs. 7-8 million. While the annual revenue for a 120 kg average, Rs. 2,700 per kg average price can be more than Rs. 30 million for conventional and Rs. 220 million for high-density farms.

Marketing a produce of growing high-value crops with considerable but scattered demand can be a challenge but I believe it’s a matter of perspective. The existing agri-supply chain of middlemen acts as more of a hurdle rather than a facility, especially for farmers not interested in lending but only marketing their crops.

There are a number of factors other than supply & demand that disrupt the pricing in local markets but with avocados, you have the chance to build your own market. Other than some specific fruit markets in Islamabad and other cities, the best way to market is to talk with big superstores and better do your own e-Commerce and invest some time and capital in building your brand that can help in future exports as well.

Nutritional Powerhouse with Diversified Use Cases

Avocados are often considered one of the most nutritious fruits in the world with more potassium than bananas, Vitamins K, E, C, B6, and B5, fibres, carbohydrates, heart-friendly oleic acids, no cholesterol, anti-oxidants and considerably low sodium levels. It is highly beneficial in stabilizing sugar levels, cardiovascular problems and blood & tissue regeneration.

These are not sweet but have their own unique savory, creamy and buttery taste which makes them a great add-on for multiple dishes. In Brazil and Vietnam, it’s used in milkshakes and ice creams, in the form of a dessert drink with milk and sugar in Indonesia, and sandwiches in Australia.

Its use cases also extend to classic guacamole, salads, wraps, breakfast, dressings, sauces, sushi and rolls, grilled and roasted form, avocado oil, and a number of beauty treatments.

Future Prospects

Avocados have a $18 billion global market that is growing rapidly with a CAGR of more than 7 percent due to the increasing calls for sustainable consumption. Although there are some concerns attached to its harm to the population of bees they arise from excessive pesticide use and not avocado farming itself. So as long as you’re careful with plant protection measures, avocado farming can be pursued without any environmental harm.

Mexico is the biggest avocado producer globally with a massive 2.5 million tons annual production as of 2021 followed by Colombia (0.97 million tons), Peru (0.77 million tons) and Indonesia (0.6 million tons) as per the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. In 2022, the United States and Canada collectively accounted for 27 percent of the market share. While Europe held a share of 22 percent, Asia contributed 11 percent, Oceania constituted 4 percent, and Africa along with the Middle East each encompassed 4 percent of the overall market value.

“It’s a great long-term investment and its international market is continuously growing with our neighbouring China boasting a 200 percent increase in demand during last year alone” added Abbas.

The current trends in the market include industry promoting it as a sustainable food alternative by investing in efficient irrigation technologies. On the other end, production declined by 5 percent after a steady increase for years while a number of markets in Asia and the Middle East have remained untapped despite a number of countries having high purchasing power and a young population that responds to emerging trends.

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