Santo Domingo, DR.
The waste avocado is the primary source for the elaboration of the oil made by the company founded in 2019 by the young Ocoeño Oniel Nuñez Guzmán, a professional in business administration who defines himself as passionate about agribusiness and agricultural innovation.
The avocado oil produced in the Dominican Republic is an agro-industrial innovation that has been made since 2020 and is entirely dedicated to export to the United States and Spain. Oniel, who comes from a family dedicated to agriculture, led by his father, engineer Onelcido Nuñez, who in 2008 created the family business Onfruits Dominicana, tells us with enthusiasm.
After a few years of working and learning with him, Oniel created his own company dedicated to producing avocado oil, Anavocados Dominicanos.
Between 2020 and 2021, the company of this young innovator handled one million five hundred thousand kilos of avocado from destruction or rejection to make oil, and according to his words, his success has been the association of producers from whom they buy all the avocados that no longer serve for export or local consumption.
He explains that they have managed to establish a commercial bond with these producers characterized by a timely payment and efficient management in the collection of fruit for processing.
“Avocado saw in the producer the need to be able to monetize or bring to money that rejection fruit that loses value,” says Oniel in an interview granted to Listín Diario.
To make a liter of oil, 13 to 15 kilos of avocado are needed, said Oniel and detailed that it has many beneficial properties for health and expressed that it is said that “it is better than olive oil.”
He says that the country has all the conditions to, besides being an avocado producer, also industrialize the oil extracted from it. “It is a potential that the Dominican countryside has, and that is why Avocado has focused on capturing that part of the national market,” says Oniel when he talks about his company’s objective.
He maintains that one of the main obstacles to industrializing agricultural products such as avocados is “that the producer understands that there is money in that fruit that remains in the field, to change that psychology and make him understand that there is money in this, that we can make sure that all the fruit is used.”
He highlighted as one of the main achievements of his company the expansion reached in the southern region “we managed to collect 150,000 kilograms of avocado per month.”
What type of avocado is used to obtain oil?
Although he affirms that most of the avocados produced in the country are used to produce oil, Oniel explains that the varieties used are Semil-34, Carla and Criollo.
Acceptance
The Dominican avocado is very well positioned in international markets, says Oniel, pointing out that the same is true for the oil being produced. “Talking about a Dominican avocado oil and that 30% of it is produced organically makes it have a good acceptance.”
Challenges
Like any nascent industry, avocado oil production now has to face the rising cost of financing and the increase in fertilizer prices, says Oniel, pointing out some of the threats he faces as an agro-entrepreneur. He also adds the challenge of atmospheric phenomena.
Containers
Oniel Nuñez Guzmán indicates that the avocado oil produced in the country is exported to Spain and the United States. About 18 containers are exported each year, each costing US$100,000, so a total of US$1,800,000 of this agro-industrial product is exported annually.
Price
RD$15.00 is the average price at which a kilo of avocado is bought from producers to make the oil, which is subject to the degree of ripeness of the fruit.