The push for local production of edible oils has seen Agri-business firm Kakuzi, record an increase in the production of macadamia.
In 2022 the firm increased Macadamia production to 659 tonnes from 492 tonnes, the company has said in its fourth Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) report.
This saw the firm step up initiative to locally produce Macadamia oil and increase the local market for the commodity.
“By the end of 2022, Macadamia occupied 1,129ha allocated to the macadamia orchard. 32,870 cartons (371,725kg) were exported to the United States, Europe and Japan. For the local market, the company sold 900 of roasted nuts,” said Kakuzi managing director Chris Flowers
Kakuzi was earlier in the year forced to initiate various strategies to deal with the global macadamia glut.
Some of these included the doubling up its macadamia domestic market retail sales efforts, launching a new macadamia oil processing facility and introducing cold-pressed macadamia oil products to promote local consumption and provide alternatives to imported vegetable oils.
The MD lauded Kakuzi’s decision to invest in climate-smart agriculture to mitigate the impact of drought in horticultural and macadamia nut operations.
From the report one of Kakuzi’s major highlights in 2022 was becoming the first commercial exporter of African-grown avocados to China with a shipment of nine containers of quality export-grade avocados.
The China export made its numbers total to 527 avocado fruit containers of about 11.4 million kilogrammes exported to Europe and China during the year.
Kakuzi also established an Avocado Academy, which trains farmers to increase their knowledge base in avocado production.
Following the release of the ESG report, State Department for Environment and Climate Change Permanent Secretary Festus Ng’eno challenged the firm to explore carbon market opportunities to enable it to engage in sustainable community projects that will reduce poverty and achieve meaningful development.
