Why avocados are driving another sort of green economy in Kenya

Look beyond the lions and elephants. Resist the cups of coffee and tea. Hail instead Kenya’s latest success story: the firm but luscious avocado pear, now climbing up the list of Kenya’s exports. Already the biggest African avo-exporter, well ahead of South Africa, Kenya has been expanding its sales to Europe and is trying to push into the mass markets of India and China. “We are number five [in the world] in avocado exports and can easily get to number one,” says Simon Chelugui, Kenya’s minister for co-operatives.