Avocado orchard planning in East Africa: planting holes, spacing and yield per hectare

25-10-2026 · ZARI AGRI

Avocado can be highly profitable, but poor drainage or excessive tree density can damage an orchard for years.

Site and hole

Use deep, free-draining soil. A 60 × 60 × 60 cm hole is a useful field reference in compacted soils. Never bury the graft union.

Spacing

6 × 5 m gives about 333 trees/ha and 5 × 5 m gives 400 trees/ha. Research on nine-year-old Hass avocado found the highest yields at 333–400 trees/ha.

Canopy management

Train trees early, remove competing leaders and keep alleys open. Once neighboring canopies overlap heavily, fruiting wood becomes shaded.

First crop

Well-established grafted trees may begin a light crop after roughly three to four years, while meaningful commercial yields come later.

Yield benchmark

In a Colombian Hass trial, the main crop was about 18 t/ha and the secondary crop 5.25 t/ha at the best intermediate densities, roughly 23 t/ha total in that study. Local East African results will vary with altitude, irrigation, pollination and root disease pressure.

Confirm cultivar and rootstock performance locally before planting a large block.