Joe Kariuki, Kenya’s GPC Company Nominated For Top African Farming Award
Kenya’s GPC Carbon Farming Group has been nominated for a major Agricultural award as they position themselves to conquer Africa in a groundbreaking farming revolution aimed at not just providing sustainable solutions to millions but also changing societies and alleviating poverty.
GPC, a Farmer Organisation (FO) created by renowned Kenyan innovator and business guru Joe Kariuki, has continued to gain recognition across Africa and beyond after the company’s innovative Laikipia farming overtures managed to draw thousands and entirely change the areas farming trajectory.
Now, the company has caught the attention of the Global Alliance Agricultural Centre Awards (GLAACA Awards), a farmer’s awards platform established in 2016 in Zambia with the aim of recognising rising farmers and rewarding their efforts across Africa.
A keen proponent of carbon farming and a respected fertilizer producer himself, Joe Kariuki has scaled the farming heights after bidding goodbye to his music days and embracing a new, multimillion venture – farming.
Many Kenyans are familiar with Joe Kariuki’s hand in shaping the Kenyan and East African music industry as the head honcho of Candy and Candy Records where he honed talent, signed artists, created superstars and flooded the market with chart-topping hits.
At Candy, a music label that Joe dutifully ran for over five years, artists like Tanzania’s Mr Nice and more found a new home as they emerged from the ashes to newfound fame and fortune.
Ever a trailblazer, Joe Kariuki navigated his way from music quickly falling in love with farming and, with a stroke of luck and sheer hard work, managed to steer GPC Carbon Company to unimaginable heights, eventually managing to not just operate in a few locations but across the country.
Other African countries which have also been nominated alongside GPC in the Global Alliance Agricultural Centre Awards (GLAACA Awards include Malawi, Mali, Uganda and Nigeria.
They are: The National Union of Coffee Agribusiness and Farm Enterprises (NUCAFE), Uganda, New Generation Commercial Farmers, Nigeria, National Small Holder Farmer Association of Malawi, Impabaruta, Rwanda and L’Union Des Sociétés Coopératives Des Producteurs De Mais of Mali.
Joe Kariuki’s GPC Carbon Farming Group already has made massive inroads across Laikipia County where they have acquired over 20,000 acres of arable land and introduced a revolutionary farming scheme which has netted over 10,000 farmera drawn from as far as Baringo and beyond.
Already, rival communities in Samburu County, who have , for years, fought over land and other amenities, have been assimilated into the Rumuruti farming project which has seen violence and tribal clashes decline by over 60% in the area.
“We have been closely following the developments and felt like the GPC group deserved this nomination more than anyone else in Kenya. Their steadfastness, their dedication to innovative farming and their efforts to not only provide sustainable solutions to local communities but also control the tribal clashes is something to be celebrated and rewarded. We wish the team all the best and hope they will bring the award home as a win for GPC is a win for Kenya, ” Emmanuel Mukuka, the Global Alliance Agricultural Centre Awards secretary said in a statement.
The gala ceremony shall be held at Lusaka, Zambia on the 24th of November with all the nominees invited attending the event which will also be presided over by top Agricultural personalities drawn from Egypt, Italy and Morocco.