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Message: [QUOTE="Nehanda, post: 23555, member: 2262"] Farmers in Narok County, Kenya, are making a big change. They used to grow wheat, but now they are starting to grow avocados instead. Kenya is the top avocado grower in Africa and the sixth biggest in the world. Most of Kenya's avocados come from small farms. Joel Kimtai is an avocado farmer in Narok. He says Narok could soon grow the most avocados in Kenya because it has a lot of land. Many farmers there are switching from wheat to avocados. Kimtai's life has improved since he started growing avocados in 2013. He is part of a group that helps over 2,000 avocado farmers. The group sells 147 tons of avocados to other countries each year, and avocado prices have gone up a lot. But there are some problems. It is hard for farmers to get good avocado plants. They have to buy them from far away, which increases the cost of the plants. Farmers also need more help from experts. They want the government to give more support. John Gitau is from a group of avocado farmers in Murang'a. His group has over 4,000 members. They sell about 500 tons of avocados to other countries every year. They want to sell even more in the future. Coming together has helped the farmers. They were able to get money to build a big packing house. This place will help them wash, sort, and store avocados before they are sold. Bugs can hurt avocados. The group spent a lot of money on traps for fruit flies, which improved their avocados. Gitau thinks Murang'a will still grow the most avocados, but he says other places are starting to grow more, too. Ojepat Okisegere works for the Fresh Produce Consortium of Kenya. He says counties that did not grow many avocados before are now growing a lot more. He sees this happening a lot in the western part of the country. Okisegere discusses a major problem for avocado farmers: a bug called the False Codling Moth. He wants the government to help get rid of it. If they do not, farmers could lose half of their avocados. [/QUOTE]

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