Smallholder Hass Avocado farmers who supply Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed Kakuzi PLC are set to enjoy a bonus of more than KES10 million from their produce exports this year. 

According to Managing Director Chris Flowers, the firm's returns this year have allowed for the bonus payment notwithstanding the operating challenges experienced this year.

The Murang’a County based firm support a wide network of smallholder growers in Kenya as part of its operations as captured in the recently launched Kakuzi PLC’s fourth Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report.

Alongside market access, the Kakuzi smallholder’s and out-growers’ programme, which provides small-scale avocado growers in Murang’a access to best practices and the international market for their fruits, has continued to draw farmers from Kirinyaga, Nyeri, Meru, Laikipia and Nandi counties. 

Through the firm’s extension services department, Kakuzi also provides free fruit maturity testing services to smallholder farmers to ensure that only avocado fruits with a minimum dry matter standard of 24 percent are harvested. Additionally, the department has been training smallholder farmers on good agricultural practices, economically empowering them and their households, ultimately strengthening the country’s economy.

The KES10 million payout accounts for 84 percent of the smallholder’s and out-growers’ profits. Mr Flowers noted that Kakuzi is committed to producing responsible and sustainably grown superfoods and maintaining a shared prosperity business model by supporting like-minded farmers in getting market access in Europe, China, India, and Malaysia, among other places. 

Under the Kakuzi shared value model, the company commits to paying farmers at least 80 percent of the profits from their fruit. “Despite the considerable challenges in getting good fruit to market this year, we were still able to give our partner growers a decent return on good quality avocados,” Mr Flowers said. 

He added, “With changing legislation in Europe, it is imperative that we continue to assist our partner growers in accessing the market by understanding what traceability and sustainability standards are and how to apply them consistently.”

Mr Flowers reiterated that the Smallholder programme is a deliberate Kakuzi community initiative that invests directly in a sustainable supply of quality fruit with the producer. If one goes the broker route, traceability, a crucial ingredient to avocado export, is lost.

Last year, during the year ended 31 December 2023, Kakuzi paid out a total of KES58.3 million to smallholders and out-growers from a net return of KES71.7 million, representing an 81 percent payout.

Through the programme, farmers are encouraged to plant the Hass avocado variety, which is popular and can attract reasonable prices in the international market.