By Abdulkarim Ssengendo
Macadamia farmer Julius Bigabwa says that the nut is always picked from the ground.
“Don’t pick it from the tree because once you pick it from the tree it means you will pick a nut that is not ready and when you dehydrate it will become like a sponge inside,” he noted.
He said his project has provided employment opportunities to many people.
“People who pick nuts from my macadamia garden earn sh200 per kilogram picked,” He added.
Bigabwa also earns from selling seedlings, with a kilo at sh10,000. On top of that he gives farmers free information on how to grow it and where you will be selling it. Regarding the market he said it is available all over. He said what currently they are producing is not even enough for exports.
“We one-time had visitors from outside the countries who wanted metric tons which we don’t have, whatever we are producing is just for taking to supermarkets and supplying direct final consumers,” he added.
On acreage, he said with macadamia in an acre, you can put there 75 trees, but in Ugandan standards they can put even 95-100 trees since many farmers are not using machines in harvesting and pruning. He encourages farmers with limited land to plant macadamia in their land boundaries.
He added that currently macadamia is a crop which has protection as people are not stealing it. “It is a good income generating activity that will be for today, tomorrow and even for great,” He said.
