Afrikelp® committed to supporting sustainable food production

Dr Nicole Hart, Managing Director at Afrikelp®

Issued December 2022

I would like to take a moment to thank customers, colleagues and suppliers for your loyalty and support over the past twelve months. We would not have been where we are without the contributions made by all of you and I am very grateful.

This year will be remembered as a year filled with challenges and successes. It has been a year of development, investment, expansion, and growth for Afrikelp® while we restructured operations, increased our brand profile and shipped product across the globe.

I am grateful for the privilege of working with a talented group of employees. It is reassuring to know that we are able to count on each other regardless of the challenges that arise. I have enjoyed watching the team embrace our purpose of nurturing growth and coming up with new ideas on how we can positively impact our business and the environment.

Looking at the agricultural sector, it is evident that farmers had to again navigate various challenges on a daily basis while they were trying to meet the demand for safe and sustainably produced food and fibre. This will not change, and I believe the environment will remain challenging.

The use of natural plant biostimulants like ours play a significant role, together with existing agricultural practices and crop inputs, in improving plants’ resistance to environmental stresses such as drought, water quality and soil salinity. I have loved receiving photo’s and testimonials from growers from various areas and crops on the amazing benefits the use of Afrikelp is giving them on field.

Our products continue to assist growers all over the world to use nutrients and water more efficiently by assisting with early plant establishment, root development and yield optimisation and quality, and allowing them to achieve “more with less.” Kelp extracts are also key tools in assisting crops to overcome the increase in stress from multiple causes. I passionately believe that inputs, such as ours, sustainably derived from nature itself, will be crucial for future food and fibre production.

As a company we are passionate about science, and we have invested significantly in research and data collection and analysis.  Our new greenhouse and shade cloth area are bursting at the seams with trials, and we are all enjoying the produce that has been grown. I am so proud of the wonderful trial results we have achieved this past year with both our internal and external trials and the correlation between South African and foreign results is outstanding. Our extensive quality control and standardisation processes have again made sure that our customers are delighted and are receiving the best the ocean has to offer.

We are not only passionate about our products and customer relations. We are passionate about the ocean. The main drive behind our kelp forest management and harvesting methods, is our love for nature. The privilege to benefit from nature comes with our commitment and responsibility to protect our natural resources.

Kelp forests form the foundation for life, biodiversity and the well-being of people across the planet.  At Afrikelp we are in the privileged position that multiple areas of our business are making a positive impact, but I am confident that we can do more.

I feel excited thinking about 2023 and am positive that Afrikelp® will continue to make an important contribution as an agricultural company focused on supporting our farmers to sustainably produce food. I hope we all take more time next year to examine what else we can do to support our planet by reducing waste, our carbon footprint, plastic usage and general consumption.