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Green gold: Avocado farming on the rise in Africa
- birdyrooster 5y agoGiven the globalization of Mexican cartels and avocados being a staple export of theirs, I am curious to see the outcome. Will the cartels go to Africa or will they stomach the shrinking margins on their product?
- hellbannedguy 5y agoI don't know why you are being downvoted. Mexican Cartels are alive, and prospering. They have their money in many farms. It's a great way to launder money.
- fireattack 5y agoDownvoting pattern on HN is the weirdest thing, even weirder than Reddit sometimes. I can feel what kind of the comments will be downvoted but can't pin down why. The best I can come up with is that certain comment will be downvoted when the "mood" (not even narrative) of it doesn't fit with the others.
- archsurface 5y agoI don't understand this avocado obsession of recent years. What's the sudden interest? "Avocado on toast" - what's that about? Some sort of dig? Or people genuinely think this is exciting? I grew up with a couple of avocado trees in my garden from '80-ish, but it's not like it was a rare earth mine. This makes as much sense to me as people getting excited about oranges; genuinely confused.
- padthai 5y agoIf you want to reduce you intake of animal produce but still have fatty meals your choices are limited. Avocado, olives, nuts and some oils are exploding in popularity due to this I believe.
- teej 5y agoFor last 20 years in the US, we have been recovering from decades of misinformation about the “dangers” of fat. The avocado is one item that benefits from a return to nutritional sanity. That shift has laid the foundation for items like avocado toast or Chipotle’s guacamole to help popularize avocados. There are lots of other factors, I’m sure. But it helps that they’re tasty.
- antiterra 5y agoAvocados weren’t really marketed at all until the mid-90s and were also shunned by some due to high fat. It was a niche food almost completely considered a side for mexican cuisine. It has been expensive outside of growing areas for a while, hence the jokes about asking for guac at Chipotle and always being warned it costs another $1.39. I’d guess part of the expense is that it has a relatively small window between being unripe and too ripe. My understanding is also that it can take 20 years from pit to fruit-bearing-tree, so supply will tend to lag behind demand (which has grown globally.)
- archsurface 5y agoOk, thanks. I was in sub-Saharan Africa, so zero exposure to the Mexican aspects, and I don't recall anyone ever giving a damn about fat content in anything. We also had banana, pawpaw, and guava trees - avos were just one of the standard fruits.
- jwilber 5y agoThe previous responses cover what are probably the most important factors, but I think it’s worth adding that avocados are also touted as ‘super foods’ in multiple trendy diets (eg keto).
- jasonwatkinspdx 5y agoYeah, in the US avocado is seen more as an ingredient in savory food items, not as a fruit. No one answered you about avocado toast, but it's literally what it sounds like. Slice some avocado, put it on toast, typically with a poached egg and some seasonings of choice. It's seen as a quick healthy meat free breakfast or lunch that still has a sort of richness to it. It became a fad with younger people after restaurants realized it could be a real money maker.
- barathr 5y agoOnly un-grafted avocados take a long time (and typically it's more like 10 years to fruit, not 20). Grafted cultivars vary in precocity, with some (e.g. Lamb) fruiting in the year after grafting and others (e.g. Sir Prize) taking many years to start fruiting.
- hatchnyc 5y agoMexican avocados were banned from import to the United States for over 80 years until 1997. Before that, the supply of avocados from California was seasonal and limited which discouraged restaurants from putting them on their menu and generally kept them more a novelty. Ironically, having a strong consistent supply increased demand. Also, Mexican avocados are generally far superior to those from California. I remember avocados from the 90s as being rock hard and mostly flavorless. Perhaps they were better locally, but I never had a tasty, buttery soft avocado until the 2000s.
- chasebank 5y agoI couldn't disagree more! I won't buy an avocado with a label from Mexico or Chile because they are so watery / flavorless. I also happen to live in Carpinteria, CA, where our local avo's are second to none.
- telesilla 5y agoPerhaps they don't export the good ones, I've enjoyed very much going to the markets in Mexico and asking for avocados for eating today and also slightly less ready ones that will be perfect tomorrow. The fruit sellers know exactly what to give you, they are perfect every time. A splash of lime juice and chili powder.. True culinary happiness.
- lotsofpulp 5y agoLike many fruits and vegetables, I’m guessing quality has to do with how early it has to be picked before the ideal picking time in order to transit to the destination. Almost all fruits and vegetables in the US taste better on the US West coast, in my opinion, and I suspect it’s because you’re closer to the origin (Cali/Mexico/WA/OR/the rest of Central and South America) so the fruit/vegetables take less time in transit and therefore don’t have to be picked so early.
- dawnerd 5y agoAvocados don’t ripen on the tree (although they will drop eventually). So there isn’t so much early harvesting as long as the size is about right. Avocado also varies based on weather and age of the tree.
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- newsclues 5y agoProcessed food is full of oil, and consumers are seeking healthy options while producers voraciously production growth, moving from oil to oil, seeking profits and sales on the trends of diets. I stopped eating chips with canola oil and only get the ones with only avocado oil, because the canola is rancid for my belly
- throwaway_kufu 5y agoLots of marketing on the back of the recent embrace of good and healthy fats. They irony of the whole avocado and toast fad is the inclusion of the toast which more often than not is unhealthy...trigger the anti-anti-carb comments. I too was also lucky enough to grow up with a hand full of avocado trees that fruited every year, and I say that even though I never really cared for them personally, but to this day I do incorporate avocado oil into my salads and wish I had acquired the taste for eating the avocado itself. I think the marketing has died down but for a while I Felt it was almost on par with the kind of submarine marketing both pizza and tacos get as a favorite food of the masses.
- staticassertion 5y agoThey're very filling, high in fat, low in sugar, and they taste good. You're basically eating a relatively healthy block of fat, to me it's sort of like asking "why do people like bacon?" - for the obvious reasons, salt and fat. By contrast, oranges aren't something I'd indulge in. They have much more sugar - ~10x what an avocado has. They're acidic. They're not particularly filling (low fat / protein content).
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- surfer7837 5y agoI recommend Rotten on Netflix [1] that has an episode about Avocado farming. The whole series is super interesting anyway and explores modern day issues such as lack of water, climate change and globalisation. [1] https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80146284 https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80146284
- sparrc 5y agoPersonally I was very unimpressed with this documentary, especially the episode on avocado farming actually. It felt like they were trying to create a story out of nothing. The fact is that crops take water to grow. All crops do. Avocados are on the higher side when looked at water used per pound (though not the highest), but they are still nowhere near the level of animal products. Avocados are also one of the most (if not the most) calorie-dense fruits, which means that their water per calorie is likely in line with most other fruit. What exactly was the point Rotten was trying to make? That avocados are popular so now they are being grown more? who cares? You could say the same thing about literally every other fruit and vegetable on the planet.
- lhorie 5y agoInterestingly, I saw a video recently that argued that the majority of water consumption for animal products comes from green water (aka direct precipitation) and the majority of that water is released back to the ground in the form of urination, which makes it less taxing to aquifer systems than crops like avocados and almonds, which are extremely water intensive and primarily consume groundwater drawn from subterranean water systems by artificial irrigation systems.
- jacobolus 5y agoIf water used in agriculture – including water sucked out of aquifers from wells – were appropriately priced, (a) water-intensive crops would move to places where water was more abundant, and (b) ways would be found to reduce water use. Growing e.g. alfalfa, rice, cotton, or almonds in California (not to mention beef/dairy production) happens partly because water for agriculture is artificially cheap, not reflecting its true costs.
- leipert 5y agoInteresting. I lived in Israel for a while, and there Rose farms shifted to Avocados due to cheap roses from Africa. You generally find Israeli Avocados here in Germany. I wonder what happens if there is an influx of avocados from Africa.
- cigaser 5y agoEU has very protective market when it comes to food. Israel has probably resources for compliance with all the regulations. But there is big motivation to stop cheap imports from Africa.
- rsynnott 5y agoMost African companies have quota-free duty-free trade with the EU for practically everything. Food safety is an issue for meat, but Europe imports enormous quantities of fruit and vegetables from Africa (including avocados).
- cigaser 5y agoIn 2019 EU imported 11.3 billion eur worth of food from Africa, mostly tobacco, cocoa beans etc.. Citrus was only 0.5 billion eur. In overall EU food imports it is only 10%. We also exported 9 billion worth of food to Africa. Hardly enourmous, given Africa agricultural potential and production.
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- 29athrowaway 5y agoThe problem with agriculture in Africa is that the seasonality is pretty bad. Instead of 4 seasons you have the really wet season and the really dry season. The insects truly suck too. This is why Europeans settlers failed to colonize Africa, except for the southernmost part.
- koolba 5y ago
- galangalalgol 5y agoCowspiracy. Seaspiracy, now this? What am I supposed to eat!?! Hyperbole aside, buying food that is actually sustainable and has no ethical concerns seems very difficult.
- hervature 5y agoGo to your local farmer's market, buy what they have. It's not that hard.
- jwilber 5y ago“It’s not that hard.” You hear that, single-mother-of-three? Stop eating unsustainably and just go pay a 20 percent markup for whatever food is available down at the local farmer’s market. It’s not that hard! Just make more money. What about those who find such markets price-prohibitive? Those who live in food deserts?
- trav4225 5y agoWell, if she's a mother of three, we already know her life goal is obviously planetary destruction, so what's a few avocados grown by Big Ag? ;-)
- tjr225 5y agoOr perhaps conservative government made birth control and abortion illegal. Or perhaps she was raped. Come on.
- Fricken 5y agoRaped 3 times? Or were they triplets?
- tjr225 5y agoYou really don’t think that happens? Try even a cursory google search. Come on. https://www.google.com/search?q=raped+multiple+times&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari https://www.google.com/search?q=raped+multiple+times&ie=UTF-...
- huachimingo 5y agoFunny enough, there was a time (and still is) in Chile where avocados were so overpriced that one guy went to the car store and used them as currency to buy one.
- flobosg 5y agoLast time I checked, a few months ago, avocados in Chile and Germany were priced almost identically.
- foota 5y agoReally? I wasn't able to find anything like that on the internet, was this during the economic crisis there?
- flobosg 5y agoI could only find the case of someone paying with avocados for a smartphone three years ago: https://www.thedailymeal.com/eat/man-buys-smartphone-avocados/060618 https://www.thedailymeal.com/eat/man-buys-smartphone-avocado...
- SideburnsOfDoom 5y agoAvocado have been a thing in South Africa for a long time already. Trees in gardens, fruit in supermarkets. Seasonal export to Europe.
- lotsofpulp 5y agoThey were a thing in Kenya and Tanzania and Zimbabwe too, at least 10 years ago. And super delicious. A couple times, our driver stopped by a tree on the side of the road and we just picked a few and ate them right then and there as a snack.
- maddyboo 5y agoA few years ago, my partner went to the Golden Gate Produce Terminal in South SF on a whim. It wasn’t entirely clear if members of the public were welcome, but no one seemed to notice or care. While perusing the stocks, my partner happened upon a smiling vendor with a big knife standing beside a pile of boxed avocados. He said, “You have to taste my avocados!” as he sliced open a petite dark green fruit. My partner accepted the cube offered on a toothpick and gingerly placed it onto his tongue. Upon closing his mouth, the cube seemed to spontaneously melt into one of the most buttery, savory, rich substances he had ever tasted. Needless to say, my partner brought home a big box of avocados that day. I was skeptical when he first told me the story, but we quickly had a knife and spoons at the ready and were digging in to a ripe specimen. He wasn’t lying after all, this was among the best things I had ever tasted, similar to an excellent piece of salmon sashimi but… better. I confess to you that we ate that big box of avocados in a week or less, our intake only limited by the rate at which the fruit became ripe. We aren’t normally gluttonous people, but those were some amazing avocados. We eat store bought avocados several times a week, but I unfortunately haven’t had a single one in the years since that was even a hundredth as delicious as those wonderful fruits. If anything, the flavor and quality seems to be on the decline. We often joke about sneaking back into the produce terminal to find avocado man and his delicious avocados. Maybe one of these days…
- wincy 5y agoJudging from their website it’s open to the public, so I don’t think you’ll need to “sneak in” next time.
- irrational 5y agoThough, that doesn't make for as good of a story.
- sebmellen 5y agoIf you ever find this fabled avocado man, please send him my way (email in profile).
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
- vfclists 5y agoSo Nigeria, a country which imports maize, rice and tomato paste thinks it should devote its land to growing avocados. SMH. There are times I wonder if Western capitalists invent and promote fancy new superfoods and whatnots so they can create agricultural and ecological stress in African and South American countries. Simply create excuses where they can take land away from local staples to cause poverty in those countries and protect their own farmers subsidized production of basic foods.
- lotsofpulp 5y agoWestern capitalists did not "invent" avocados, nor are they "fancy new superfoods". People objectively like them a lot, and biologically, they should, they're creamy, fatty goodness. It's simply a consequence of people wanting to (and being able to afford) good tasting food.
- vfclists 5y agoI guess they don't realize that "being able to afford" implies land which should be used for to produce staple foods for the poor in the producing countries is used to produce foods which Westerners can do without. Why should Nigeria import rice and wheat and export avocados her citizens don't need, because the avocado farmers can retain export proceeds abroad, while the food importers profit from subsidized basic foods produced in the West?
- bmm6o 5y agoAre you arguing against specialization and trade in general, or just in the specific case of staple food?
- hervature 5y agoMaking up numbers for sake of argument. You only have enough farms to feed half your people. You can feed half your people or export something twice as expensive and import enough food to feed everyone. That’s the whole argument of globalization. Everyone has different geography and cultures and thus produce what makes the most money since they can import anything they need from elsewhere.
- chr1 5y agoIs there research or a startup working to genetically modify tropical fruit trees into a form that would be easier to cultivate in greenhouses. There doesn't seem to be any good reason why an avocado can't grow on a vine or even on a seaweed. Such fruit could be cheaper and higher quality as it would be local and could reach ripeness on the plant. And it will be less susceptible to anti-gmo activists, because unlike usual GMO that benefits growers, or benefits customers in a non-obvious way (like golden rice), it will benefit directly customers who will be getting delicious tropical fruit which now they can taste only when traveling.
- ratsforhorses 5y agoJust an anecdote of what I remember seeing in New Zealand recently...on the northernmost tip...huge intensive avocado farms being set up....kind of sickening really but very much in tune with their economy which seems intent on ruining their environment for a a few export dollars (in this case sucking up aquifers and inviting in salination, in other cases such as dairy farming polluting the said aquifiers so they can sell dried milk to China) My point is that on a historical level you create ecological disasters so a certain middle class can survive in artificial comfort while sending stuff to other countries so their middle classes can live in a similarily artificial environment