Kakuzi, an agri-business firm, recently scooped four awards at the 2021 Avocado Industry Excellence Awards (KAEA) held at the Safari Park hotel, Nairobi. The company won in the Growers, Nursery and Seedlings Awards categories.
Kakuzi was recognized for its efforts in ensuring a perfect avocado seedling from the onset of the planting to germination, growth and transplanting. The company, which mostly focuses on planting the Hass Avocado variety, has been instrumental in ensuring quality avocado is grown and exported to the outside market. Working with the locals through its smallholder farmers partnership, the farm provides seedlings and ensures close collaboration to ensure integrity of crop.
The firm has also 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 sandy and red soil to ensure the roots sprout and are intact. The farmers are then taught on hass seedlings grafting and best practices to achieve the perfect seedlings.
Kakuzi also won other awards including the first runners up in the Avocado person of the year category for their Managing Director Chris Flowers. The firm also came in second place in the Large-Scale Orchards, 100 acres category and second place in the Large Scale exporter – 200 containers category.
The KAEA awards acknowledge and recognize contributions to the avocado sector that change or alter businesses resulting in advancement in all areas of the industry. This includes marketing, research and development, products and product innovation.