Kakuzi has secured approval from the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS), to process and prepare export-grade fresh avocados for the Chinese market.
The approval follows a stringent phytosanitary audit for its extensive Kakuzi farms and packhouse.
Kakuzi Managing Director Chris Flowers says the Makuyu based Kakuzi fresh produce Packhouse and Orchards had been inspected and found to be compliant with the high international standards.
“We recently were subjected to a series of random and procedural inspections by KEPHIS, and I am glad to announce that the Kakuzi’s orchards and Packhouse are among the first approved large scale farming and packing operations, cleared for the Chinese market,” said Flowers.
This comes amid growing bilateral trade between Kenya and China allowing the export of avocado products from Kenya to China.
During the signing in Mombasa, China Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi announced that the Chinese government would give Kenya a Ksh.51 billion grant.
The firm has also secured several local and international operating accreditations among others the Kenya Bureau of Standards Diamond Mark of Quality.
In 2021, Kakuzi received an unconditional renewal on a crucial globally recognised agricultural food quality certification and the Global Good Agricultural Practice ( GLOBALG.A.P. version 5.2) certificate following a recent production and processing procedures audit.
Early January, the firm issued a procedural profit warning notice with anticipated lower full-year earnings due to lower production and export of avocado fruits.
This was after the export of avocado was stopped by the government in November 2021, following complaints that some unscrupulous farmers were exporting immature avocado to China.
The notice, which has been issued as per the Capital Markets regulatory requirements, confirms that the firm’s earnings will be at least 25 percent lower than that reported for the year ended December 31, 2020
Kakuzi has also enhanced its Forestry, Blueberry and Livestock production as part of its diversification strategy.
