Prepared from Lusaka Avocado Multipurpose Cooperative Society's free grower tools. Figures are estimates from public climate data at ~8 km, plus your own soil measurement. Not a guarantee.
Two honest tools, free to anyone in Zambia. Check your area against ten years of real rainfall, temperature and soil data — then test your own soil properly, because that is the part that actually decides it.
Ten years of real rainfall, temperature and soil data for any point in Zambia. Pick your district, use your location, or tap the map.
The climate and soil readings come from an ~8 km grid cell — we measured it: a point 1 km away and one 5 km away get the identical answer, so your neighbour's farm reads the same as yours. What kills avocado orchards is Phytophthora root rot, decided by drainage in the top metre of your specific plot, which no satellite can see.
Tap the map to drop a pin on your land.
Zambia only · ten years of data, fetched live · first lookup takes a few seconds.
Phytophthora root rot kills more avocado orchards than climate ever will, and it is decided by whether your soil drains. No satellite can see this. A spade and an hour can. This walks you through it and reads your result.
Two doors, one calculator. Already have trees? See what a season could be worth. Thinking of planting? See the year-by-year picture — including the years you pay in before the fruit comes.
Revenue is the easy half. These are the outflows that make the J-curve dip. Every figure is yours to change — they start blank on purpose, because Ontech does not know what a seedling costs you.
Prices move. A projection built on today's price is a hope, not a plan. Press this to halve the price you entered and watch what happens to your break-even — the number that survives a bad year is the number to trust.
| Year | Age | Yield (kg) | Revenue | Net | Cumulative |
|---|
Estimate only, computed from the figures you entered. Not a forecast, not advice, and not a guarantee of income from the cooperative.
The variety decides whether your fruit is marketable — and for how much. Here's how to tell them apart.
The dominant export variety. Grafted, marketable, and what most buyers ask for.
| Skin texture | Pebbly, bumpy, thick |
|---|---|
| Colour when ripe | Turns purple-black |
| Shape | Oval, rounder |
| Size | Small–medium |
The other named export variety. Grafted and marketable, but stays green when ripe.
| Skin texture | Smoother, thinner |
|---|---|
| Colour when ripe | Stays green |
| Shape | Pear-shaped, often necked |
| Size | Medium–large |
A tree grown from a pip, not grafted. May not be marketable as a named variety — identify before you count on it.
| Skin texture | Varies — unpredictable |
|---|---|
| Colour when ripe | Varies |
| Shape | Varies |
| Marketability | Often none as a named grade |
Print them and take them to whoever you trust — a grower, an extension officer, your family. And if you decide to plant, you do not have to sell alone: the cooperative grades, prices and markets its members' fruit together.
Join the cooperativeThese tools are free and stay free whether you join or not.