By Correspondent
Lamu, Kenya: The Kenya integrated agro-business firm Kakuzi PLC has celebrated the operationalization of the new Port of Lamu with an inaugural 80-ton cargo of avocados destined for France.
This comes after the commissioning of Lamu’s deep seaport by Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta at the first berth of the 32-berth deep seaport.
The avocados grown at the Kakuzi PLC Makuyu orchards are part of the cargo loaded on cargo Ship MV Seago Bremerhaven which docked at the Port of Lamu en-route France.
Speaking when he confirmed the firm’s export load, Kakuzi Managing Director Chris Flowers said the operationalization of the port provides wider benefits for agribusiness firms that import farm inputs and export produce.
“As a truly Kenyan agribusiness firm, we are excited by the opening the first berth at the Port of Lamu. This development begins to crystallize the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport Corridor project, which will benefit Kenyan producers immensely and congratulate the Government and the Kenya Ports Authority among the other development partners for this milestone,” Flowers said.
Grown in Makuyu, Murang’a County, the Kakuzi Avocado fruit, Flowers said, is steadily enjoying market preference due to its high quality. “Our location provides a temperate climate which is perfectly suited to the production of avocado. From seedling to fork, we have full control over the entire value chain, ensuring complete traceability and a high-quality product,” he assured.
He disclosed that Kakuzi PLC had loaded Five containers of Hass Variety Avocados aboard the container ship MV Seago Bremerhaven destined for the Port of Marseille-Fos, France.
Each container is a 40-foot shipping container with a controlled atmosphere cooling system that keeps the air at 6 degrees and scrubs the air to prevent the fruit from ripening before it arrives. On average, each container holds about 20,000 kilos of fruit packed into 4-kilo cartons. There are about 5,200 cartons in each container.
During the listed firm’s recent 93rd Annual General Meeting, Kakuzi PLC confirmed plans to strengthen its Avocado smallholder base as part of a shared prosperity business plan.
Alongside the smallholder development plans, the firm focuses on agricultural production expansion and diversification projects for its Macadamia, Blueberry, Livestock, and commercial forestry business lines.
The firm will this year invest more than Ksh. 400 million in capital expenditures (CAPEX) while focusing on upscaling its smallholder operations value to complement its production capacities and boost the global positioning of Kenyan avocados. It’s critical that the markets only receive good quality fruits from Kenya, and to achieve this, building knowledge of the market requirements amongst farmers is very important, Kakuzi reiterated.
