Extracting greater value from avocados with Origen Fresh
Working with an ever-growing network of smallholders in Kenya, Origen Fresh maximises the potential of the avocado harvest and farmer incomes by transforming lower grade produce into high-quality avocado oil.
Turning waste into liquid gold
In the words of founder Grace Kariuki, Origen Fresh is in the “post-harvest waste management business”. Throughout Kenya, many smallholders have avocado trees on their land that produce abundantly without the need for irrigation or other interventions. However, the majority of their crops are not suitable for export. Origen pays farmers a fair price for second and third grade avocados and turns this “waste” into a valuable product.
Why Goodwell invested
Origen Fresh maximises the potential of Kenya’s avocado harvest by transforming lower grade produce into high-quality avocado oil. Their approach reduces the number of discarded avocados by up to 45%, improving agricultural efficiency and enhancing incomes and livelihoods of smallholder farmers – many of whom are women.
Recent achievements and future ambitions
During 2025, Origen Fresh’s farmer network grew to 284,280 farmers (up 154% since Goodwell’s investment). The company reduced post-harvest losses by 6.8% through structured aggregation, improved handling protocols, and farmer training, preventing 289 MT of food waste, and directly strengthening farmer income.
Origen Fresh nearly tripled its staff bursary program to KES 5.8 million in 2025 (up from KES 2.1 million in 2024), directly supporting 36 students and easing the educational cost burden on employee households.
How Origen Fresh solves post-harvest loss with avocado oil
“In Kenya, grade A avocado fruit for export is only 5% of the harvest. That means farmers have a lot of avocados that they don’t know what to do with. We take something that is giving a headache to farmers and turn it into a high-value, healthy product.”
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