The liquid seaweed extract of Afrikelp™ fertilizer is manufactured from freshly harvested Ecklonia maxima kelp using the cold micronization process (CMP).  

This liquid seaweed concentrate is blended to desired plant growth levels and sold by Afrikelp and used on plants to improve marketable yields in a wide variety of crops. This liquid extract of Afrikelp help plants to extract nutrients from the soil more efficiently.  

The quality of kelp harvested, however, have the tendency to fluctuate due to it being derived from a natural plant species that is highly influenced by its surroundings, the phases of the moon, the tides and currents, temperature, salinity, nutrients, UV exposure, herbivores feeding on the kelp, the age of the plants, as well as the growth density. 

“Due to the natural fluctuation in the harvested raw material of Ecklonia maxima, it is extremely important that we constantly measure the nutrient’s content in each sustainably harvested batch and determine the levels so that we can standardize the content in our products,” says Kobus Lindeque, Managing Director Afrikelp. 

The effective extraction under the cold micronisation process as well as the new optimized separation process, ensure that the farmer has a more concentrated product with a higher concentration of the key elements and components essential for plant growth  

“To address this fluctuation tendency, Afrikelp recently invested in new infrastructure such as a new Agilent triple quadruple liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, or LC-MS device. The sole purpose of this investment is to improve the quality of our products. “ 

The liquid extract is tested extensively in Afrikelp’s laboratories in Cape Town. “We have increased our inhouse quality control capacity and are now able to do contamination, pH, conductivity, total polyphenols, moisture, rooting and germination assays tests locally in South Africa. This allows us to have a hands-on approach and provides us with the opportunity to be quicker and more efficient with our evaluations,” says Dr Dunesha Naicker Production and Process Improvement Manager at Afrikelp. 

The company also upgraded the growing rooms with state-of-the-art growing lights set at precise LUX readings to ensure that the trials that they conduct are accurate and unbiased. “Our temperature controlled growing rooms have been equipped with specific growing lights in the red and white wavelength range. This aligns with growing rooms used at other institutes and offers us the opportunity to provide our customers and clients with unbiased scientific data,” says Dr Naicker. 

This also aligns with the future to become a world-renowned testing facility of kelp extracts and their nutrient contents, providing the world with accurate and meaningful data. 

But, according to Dr Naicker, although they can now test all their products locally, all liquid extracts will in addition still be tested at the Technical University of Dresden in Germany to ensure that their analyses are aligned and consistent, and to maintain the highest quality products at all times. 

For farmers, it means that they can be assured of consistent quality in every Afrikelp product delivered on farm.