GPC Carbon Farming Group, a Kenyan company, has been nominated for Africa’s prestigious Global Alliance Agricultural Centre Awards.
Also nominated is the company’s founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Joe Kariuki.
The nomination is a recognition of the company’s efforts to advocate for carbon farming which is also aimed at providing sustainable solutions to millions of farmers.
GPC manufactures organic fertilizers that are used across the country for planting and top dressing.
The company has in recent months been running a program aimed at enrolling more locals into carbon farming.
So far, GPC has acquired over 20,000 acres of arable land in Laikipia and introduced a revolutionary farming scheme which has over 10,000 farmers drawn from as far as Baringo and beyond enrolled.
In addition, communities in Samburu County, who have, for years, fought over land and other amenities, have been assimilated into the Rumuruti farming project which has seen violence and tribal clashes decline by over 60% in the area.
OnlyKenyan company to be nominated
It is through such programs and their advocacy for carbon farming and the production of organic fertilizers that GPC Carbon Farming Group and Joe Kariuki have landed the nomination for the Global Alliance Agricultural Centre Awards.
GPC is the only Kenyan company nominated for the awards.
Other African companies nominated alongside GPC include the National Union of Coffee Agribusiness and Farm Enterprises (NUCAFE), Uganda, New Generation Commercial Farmers, Nigeria, National Small Holder Farmer Association of Malawi, Impabaruta, Rwanda and L’Union Des Sociétés Coopératives Des Producteurs De Mais of Mali.
Emmanuel Mukuka, the Global Alliance Agricultural Centre Awards says the company’s innovative farming and bid to provide sustainable solutions deserve to be recognized and celebrated.
“We have been closely following the developments and felt like the GPC group deserved this nomination more than anyone else in Kenya,” Mukuka said in a statement.
“Their steadfastness, their dedication to innovative farming and their efforts to not only provide sustainable solutions to local communities but also control the tribal clashes is something to be celebrated and rewarded,” he added.
GLAACA Awards is a farmer’s awards platform established in 2016 in Zambia with the aim of recognising rising farmers and rewarding their efforts across Africa.
The awards gala ceremony is scheduled for Friday, November 24, 2023, in Lusaka, Zambia. It will also be presided over by top Agricultural personalities drawn from Egypt, Italy and Morocco.
