Agribusiness firm, Kakuzi Plc, is set to provide free maturity testing services for local smallholder avocado as part of its corporate support initiatives to foster the local and export market delivery of quality avocado fruits.
Kakuzi says it has also committed to providing the preharvest maturity testing services at its FSSC 22000 Food Safety Management Systems certified Kakuzi Avocado Processing and Packhouse facility located near Makuyu town, along the Nairobi-Nyeri highway.
The firm’s managing director Christopher Flowers said the laboratory-based testing services will be provided to smallholder farmers as part of a national quality assurance commitment.
Farmers will also receive detailed pre-harvest reports on the quality and maturity of their fruit samples.
“We believe the free maturity testing services will guide local farmers wishing to harvest their avocado fruit crops. As avocado farmers, big or small, we must appreciate that every fruit we deliver to the local or export market carries the Kenya quality reputation, and that’s got to be our enduring objective,” Mr Flowers said.
The move comes at a time when the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA), through its Horticultural Crops Directorate (HCD) announced that the 2023 avocado harvesting season officially started on March 24, 2023.
According to HCD, avocados should be harvested when they reach maturity, which is determined by a minimum dry matter standard of 24%.
In a public notice, the directorate added that harvesting avocado at the recommended stage of maturity of more than 24% dry matter content reduces the fruit’s susceptibility to “mesocarp brusing”, a postharvest problem of avocado fruit.
“Kakuzi is pleased that the regulator has provided the directions for strict adherence to maturity parameters. We are at hand to provide free maturity testing services for smallholder farmers at our GlobalGAP-certified Makuyu Packhouse laboratories,” Mr Flowers said.
The HCD public notice noted that harvesting immature avocado fruit negatively affects fruit quality, resulting in a grassy aftertaste, watery or rubbery texture, and lack of flavour.
