Increasing demand for avocados in Europe and North America has led to a tripling of global production in just 20 years. However, this popular fruit is increasingly controversial because of the environmental impact of its production and distribution.
Environmental burden
Avocado trees are very thirsty plants, requiring on average about 1000 litres of water per kg . This value is higher than most other fruits and vegetables, but lower than some cereals such as rice. The main problem is that avocado trees are grown in regions that already suffer from water scarcity.
Mexico, the world’s largest avocado producer, experiences long periods of drought, so irrigating avocado plantations could damage local people’s access to water. The problem of equitable water distribution could worsen in the coming decades.
Impacts on nature should also be considered. Traditionally, avocado trees were planted in mixed plots with other crops and harvested as food, with only the surplus being exported. This practice changed with increasing demand from the United States and Europe.
Avocados are now grown mainly as an export crop, with production shifting to large monoculture plantations to maximise productivity. These monocultures have crowded out other local crops and are much more vulnerable to pests and diseases than mixed plantations.
All this means that more chemical pesticides and synthetic fertilisers have to be used . This in turn has a negative impact on biodiversity, soil quality and human health.
Worse, in some regions, new avocado plantations lead to deforestation. In the state of Michoacán, Mexico’s main avocado producing region, which supplies most of the avocados sold in the US, about 25,000 hectares of forest are cleared each year.
Michoacán has a rich forest cover that is home to several endangered animals such as jaguars, pumas and coyotes. Thus, increased avocado production in this region could pose a huge threat to biodiversity.
Finally, human impact must be considered . While the avocado trade may help the local population by providing income to farmers, they also bear the brunt of environmental problems. In addition, avocado plantations have been linked to organised crime and human rights abuses, and some towns and villages are so sick of the problems that they have banned avocados altogether.
Eating one avocado a day will extend your years of life
Unfortunately, there are no simple answers. Pursuing fair trade or organic avocado production may help in terms of human impact and biodiversity, but certification processes are far from perfect and often too expensive for small farmers in developing countries. They may also not result in fewer emissions than monoculture plantations.
Avocados are not the only environmentally damaging produce. They have a much smaller carbon footprint than most animal products, and are just one of many crops where one variety dominates the market. But we should also not ignore the damage that avocado production does to nature and local communities.
The best advice for consumers may be to consider alternative avocado varieties when possible to reduce the demand for monoculture plantations. When they are not available, it is best to try to keep avocados as a delicacy rather than a regular foodstuff.
