Kenya’s largest avocado exporter, Kakuzi PLC, scooped four awards at the Avocado Industry Excellence Awards held at Safari Park, Nairobi.
The company won in the Growers Category, Nursery and Seedlings Awards and was recognized for its efforts in ensuring a perfect avocado seedling from the onset of the planting to germination and growth and thereafter transplanting.
The company, which mostly focuses on planting the Hass Avocado variety, has been instrumental in ensuring quality avocado is planted and exported to the outside market. Together with the locals and through its smallholder farmers partnership, the farm provides seedlings and ensures close collaboration to ensure integrity of crop.
Over and above that, the firm has been offering avocado scions for free to over 3,000 small holder farmers and farmers living around their farm. The farmers then undergo training on how to mix the soil (sandy and red soil) to ensure the roots sprout and are intact. The farmers are then taught on hass seedlings grafting and beat practices to achieve the perfect seedlings.
The other awards captured by Kakuzi PLC were,1st runners up in the Avocado person of the year by their MD Chris Flowers,1st Runners up in the Large-Scale Orchards,100 acres category and 1st Runners up in the Large Scale exporter-200 containers category.
Speaking while receiving the award, Kakuzi PLC Managing Director, Chris Flowers pointed out the need for quality assurance to maintain our national position as an exporter. This can easily be eroded by poor and immature fruits, hence the efforts by Kakuzi to ensure quality.
The KAEA awards acknowledge and recognize contributions to the avocado sector that change or alter businesses resulting in advancement forward in all areas of the industry and including but not limited to marketing, research and development, products and product innovation.
KAEA is now a national ritual in recognition of individuals and organizations. These super-achievers are feted during a Networking Gala Dinner to incentivize and encourage competitiveness and growth within the avocado industry.
