Avocado oil from Kenya
Organic avocado
Good for the skin, better for the world.
Precious, healthy, nourishing: the avocado is an important raw material in the food industry. Thanks to vital fatty acids and vitamins, it is also a popular moisturising ingredient for skin care, but its ecological balance is devastating. In Central and South America, in particular, avocado farming often means monoculture, forest clearance, high water consumption and poor working conditions. Whereas avocados from our partner, LIMBUA, are good for the skin and better for the world.
In harmony with people and nature.
Cultivation, harvest and processing at LIMBUA are carried out in harmony with people and nature. The Mount Kenya region provides the ideal climatic conditions and sufficient rainfall, so no additional irrigation is necessary. This enables organic avocados to grow at the foot of Africa’s second highest mountain, alongside multiple crops of organic mangoes and macadamia nuts in agroforestry systems. Although this sounds like a contemporary farming method, it is actually the traditional, sustainable system used in rural regions. Around 5,000 independent smallholders work with LIMBUA. If we count their families, this organic farming in harmony with nature feeds around 25,000 people.
100% traceability.
We have been working closely with our partner LIMBUA since 2009 – first of all in the area of organic macadamia nuts and then on our organic avocado project in 2016. The farming methods may be traditional, but the traceability of the crops is in keeping with the times: the avocado’s entire journey can be digitally traced. So-called ‘field officers’ collect the avocados from the farms and weigh the crops on site with mobile digital scales. The farmers are identified by their fingerprints and at the same time confirm the results of the weighing. Payment is made there and then via a mobile payment system on a mobile phone, where receipt of the payment can be seen right away. The avocados are then transported in crates that are labelled with a barcode. This allows us to find out where the fruit came from at any time – even during processing in the factories.
Local processing.
With the support of Dr. Hauschka, since 2021 the final step in the value chain – processing the avocados into oil – has also taken place in Kenya. Contrary to the usual practice of building large production systems, LIMBUA has factories in several locations in the immediate vicinity of the farms. This means that transport routes between farms and processing plants are short and freshness, quality and low CO2 emissions are guaranteed. Since 2021, we have been using the organic Fair for Life certified avocado oil produced by LIMBUA in Dr. Hauschka products.
The great advantage of processing in Kenya: people are more closely involved in the value-added process. Most of the factory employees come from the farming families in the surrounding area, meaning that they are processing their own raw materials. They learn new processing techniques and gain valuable know-how in their home country. So there is plenty of work: both simple jobs, which only require manual labour, and those that require specialist knowledge of food technology or agronomy. This provides many young people with the chance to stay close to home, even if home is in a rural area.
Fair for Life certification.
Responsible for buying all of the raw materials for Dr. Hauschka Skin Care is Naturamus GmbH, an independent subsidiary of Dr. Hauschka parent, WALA Heilmittel GmbH. Like LIMBUA, Naturamus has the Fair for Life certification. As a particularly demanding fair trade standard, this seal represents a socioecologically sustainable value chain from the source through to the final product. Naturamus also supports the Fair for Life fund managed by LIMBUA by adding 5 percent to the purchase price. The fund has been used in recent years to buy textbooks and notebooks for school children from financially disadvantaged families and to acquire new seedlings and organic fertiliser, for example.
LIMBUA’s commitment is clearly evident throughout the region: The people experience how the added value remains in Embu, how training and further training are actively encouraged and how there is price continuity for the sustainably grown avocados. That’s really the best thing about it all.
Dr. Hauschka Quality
Authentic natural and organic skin care and make-up, certified to NATRUE standards
Free from chemical/synthetic fragrances, dyes and preservatives
Free from mineral oils, parabens, silicone and PEGs
Dermatologically tested for sensitive skin
Wherever possible, all raw materials come from controlled organic or biodynamic (Demeter certified) cultivation and are recovered under fair conditions
We do not test on animals
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