The ManicaPost
Samuel Kadungure Senior Farming Reporter
FOR years, Chipinge was famous for evergreen tea and coffee plantations and thriving dairy farming. But since the crashing of the tea and coffee prices on the global market, macadamias have become the dominant crop for resettled farmers.
Although through ignorance some new farmers destroyed macadamia orchards thinking that they will be expensive to manage – the perseverant ones have met with unexpected success and are smiling all the way to the bank.
Realising the rich pickings by those patient farmers who forged ahead to maintain the orchards to build lucrative livelihoods – thanks to the deep, well drained rich soils and good microclimate of Chipinge – a significant number of the farmers have since recognised their mistake and started replanting macadamia plants.
Macadamia is now a lifeline for more than 200 farmers in Chipinge where the crop is exported primarily to China and South Africa where demand is high.
Farmers who were brave enough to maintain and invest in macadamia orchards years ago, are reaping the rewards as the industry is enjoying an exceptionally profitable phase, with global prices riding on the crest of the Chinese demand.
Unlike in Zimbabwe, macadamias have become the most expensive nuts in China, where they carry social status.
Chipinge Macadamia Association secretary general, Mr James Maisiri, said although they took up macadamia production at a time the market had been sabotaged by former white farmers, good signs were on the horizon.
“Macadamia is a high value crop which was previously a preserve of white farmers. When we moved in, the market had just been sabotaged and for 10 years we had no market. In 2010 the price was pegged at 30 cents per/kg; between 60 and 90 cents the following year; $1.20 to $1.50 in 2012; $2 in 2013 and 2014. It fluctuated to $1.50 and $1.80 in 2015 due to poor quality before rising to $2.20 in 2016. In 2017 we are selling at $3.20,” said Mr Maisiri.
Though the Chinese intervention has ignited a surge in prices of macadamias, the farmers feel they are still being ripped off.
“We should sell at $4 or $5/kg to break-even otherwise we will continue having little to show for it. The other problem is that at the moment we are selling to middlemen, who will export at between $9 and $12/kg. If you look at it, the farmer is getting very little and many small-scale farmers are forced to sell their crop for peanuts, but these buyers will unlock value out of the said poor crop by processing it into high value products like cooking oil,” said Mr Maisiri.
An estimated 4 584 hectares are under macadamia in Chipinge. The projected harvest for 2017 is 32 326, 85 tonnes. The district has potential to double both the hectarage and tonnage, in five years, given adequate financial and material support.
Chipinge District Agritex officer, Mr Tapiwanashe Mativenga Chagwesha, said focus should be on value addition and beneficiation to ensure that farmers extract real value for their tears, blood and sweat.
“The crop can be more profitable if processed. Currently there are no processors and it is being exported nuts in shell. The farmers are only drying and selling. There is potential in investing in the processing of macadamias.
“Two factories are needed to process macadamia to enhance the value accrued by farmers. Macadamia is the best crop for Chipinge’s regions one and two and we require guaranteed funding especially for small-scale farmers to increase the hectarage and to enhance extension and research services,” said Mr Chagwsha.
Macadamias can be produced successfully in areas where avocados, papayas, mangoes and bananas do well. At least $2 000 is needed to grow a hectare of the macadamia nuts. Currently, farmers are harvesting an average of three tonnes per hectare. With proper orchard management and irrigation that can go up to six tonnes. However, there are challenges associated with it.
The extension and research services are poor and farmers hunt for latest discoveries and trends in South Africa. Financial assistance as is the case with other crops like tobacco, cotton and horticulture is zero.
Farmers are also grappling with robbers targeting their crops. At Arda Rusitu, armed robbers pounce in broad daylight to steal the crop and farm implements.
Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Dr Joseph Made, said the theft was taking place at a time demand for macadamias has surged on the international market.
“The theft of macadamia nuts has prompted us to ask police to help farmers to beef up security of the plantations. Many farmers with macadamia nuts plantations are still under threat and they (police) should move in to curb the vice because the theft is too much especially when considering that fruits and macadamia nuts are on high demand on the international market,” he said.
Mr Maisiri added: “Macadamia is very expensive to produce, and if you lose it to theft, definitely you will be pushed out of business. These thieves are not involved in macadamia production at all, but invade the district between March and July when we are harvesting. We want a statutory instrument protecting macadamia with a mandatory sentence for the offender per kilogramme so that the more one steals the harsher the penalty.”
Mr Chagwesha said macadamias have the same potential as tobacco, cotton or exportable horticultural products, and there is need to tighten the law to the same level of livestock which has a mandatory sentence for offenders.
“We try to control thefts by registering members, but we have repeated offenders who continue to steal and sell their loot to buyers because there is no law to stop non-producers from selling the crop. Some of the thefts are politically inspired, while other thefts are out of jealousy, hanzi waakutodya pamunda wawakapihwa,” he said.
In some cases farmers find it problematic to pay their workers on time as they quickly use the dividends to buy luxurious items forgetting there is tomorrow.
The workers hit back by stealing and selling the loot through other registered farmers. The nuts ripen in about 10 months and picking is done around March and July. The nuts can be processed into soap, body lotions and cosmetics. Macadamia kernels are sold as snacks and as a cooking ingredient.
Even the shells are useful as mulch, fuel for processing macadamia nuts, for plastic manufacture and as a substitute for sand in the sand–blasting process.
