Farmers embrace macadamia nut growing as govt eyes 1m trees

Nicholas Ndagijimana, a macadamia farmer, is not worried about the education of his children, after he started growing the crop. “If you produce one child and you grow 20 macadamia trees, the revenues from those trees will be enough to support his or her education from primary to university; that is research I did,” a confident Ndagijimana said in an interview. The 50-year-old father of three is a resident of Rebero Sector in Kicukiro District. His farm is in the Western Province’s Karongi District, Mubuga Sector. Nicknamed ‘golden nuts’ macadamia, the perennial crop indigenous to Australia, starts yields after four to five years and can last up to 100 years. Macadamia nuts are both delicious and nutritious. According to nutrition-and-you.com, a website that provides insights into food related nutrition facts, macadamia nuts are rich in, minerals, antioxidants and vitamins that are essential for optimum health and wellness. Macadamias have no cholesterol, but are an excellent source of minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese and zinc. Ndagijimana started growing macadamia in 2006. He has a 60 hectare macadamia plantation with 8,600 trees. In 2014, he said, he harvested about 120 tonnes which he sold at Rwf800 a kilogramme, making a total of Rwf90 million. Currently, a kilogramme of raw macadamia nuts costs Rwf900. He told The New Times l that no crop beats macadamia in terms of productivity. “No other cash crop can be equated to macadamia [in produce]. For macadamia, one harvests everyday for the entire year, but for coffee for instance, one harvests only once a year,” he said, adding that the crop increases productivity as years go by. Macadamia growing allows intercropping with recommended seven metres between one tree and another. A seedling is planted in a hole of eight to eight metres depth and width for better growing. About 200 trees can occupy one-hectare piece of land. Ndagijimana said for farmers with about 20 or 30 trees, they can still grow some other crops alongside macadamia until the latter starts yielding. “Even if a farmer grows five macadamia trees, they will be able to address personal needs such as paying health insurance,” he said. He noted that, like any other crop, for macadamia to thrive, farmers have to nurture it properly through best practices, including proper and timely fertiliser application, mainly manure or compost, and spraying, which are costly. Ndagijimana said, currently, Rwanda Nut is helping him to maintain his macadamia plantation, which could yield upto 300 tonnes per year. Celestin Gashugi, a farmer in Kibungo Sector of Ngoma District in Eastern Province, said, on average, he is earning Rwf60, 000 per month from 30 macadamia trees he planted in 2007. He concurred that macadamia is very productive compared to other crops, and a tree can produce over 50 kilogrammes per year. However, farmers said there is a challenge of lack of macadamia seedlings as there is only one macadamia nursery in the country, located in Muyumbu, Rwamagana District. The scarcity of macadamia seedlings makes it expensive for farmers as one macadamia seedling costs between Rwf1,500 and Rwf3,000. Norce Elysée Gatarayiha, the chief executive officer of Norlega Macadamia Rwanda Ltd, a macadamia processing and exporting company, said the firm started processing macademia in 2009. They have been making cookies and extracting cooking oil from macadamia as well as briquettes from the macadamia shells. He said, on average, they process between 10 and 15 tonnes of macadamia per month and plan to make macadamia body moisturising oil. He said macadamia is very beneficial for agri-business because of its good prices and ready market. “Now, I have market in Vietnam, Gabon and India. There are people abroad who order any possible quantity. But, only about 300 to 500 tonnes are so far being produced per year in Rwanda,” he said. In a bid to make the most of macadamia opportunities, Gatarayiha has been planning to penetrate the American market through the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The National Agriculture Exports Development Board (NAEB) said macadamia’s production increases in stages, from 15 kilogrammes at the first yeild, to 80 kilogrammes in the 10th year after its planting. As a means to modernise macadamia growing, the Operation “Macadamia One Million Project” was launched in November 2015 in Nyanza District’s Rwabicuma Sector where about 1,000 seedlings were planted. So far, more than 3,700 seedlings have been planted in selected areas across the country. The Rwf1.5 billion, 10-year project that seeks to have one million macadamia trees planted will run until 2025, according to NAEB. Pie Ntwali, NAEB communications officer, told The New Times on Thursday that there are more than 100 hectares available for macadamia growing. He added that they continue to mobilise farmers across the country with a target to reach one million macademia trees on 5,000 hectares of land. The NAEB official said macadamia is one of the cash crops easy to grow and very productive in terms of yield.Besides that, macadamia nuts are edible in either raw or roasted form. Ntwali noted that for the government, it’s one of the crops that can fast contribute to economic growth because it can be processed into more than 30 products, including soap and oil. He said to ensure the success of macadamia farming, NAEB works closely with all partners involved in its cultivation, including farmers, local government and exporters. He said they also support farmers to get consolidated land for plantation, fertilisers and pesticides to get quality nuts. So far, in Rwanda, there are two companies that process and export the crop, namely Norlega Rwanda Macadamia Ltd, and Rwanda Nut. Aside from earning farmers revenues, macadamia is expected to help widen the country’s agriculture exports base. NAEB’s annual report released in July 2015 shows that, during the fiscal year 2014-2015, more than $272.46 million were generated from agricultural exports, up from $217.62 million in 2013-2014. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Farmers embrace macadamia nut growing as govt eyes 1m trees