By Herbert Musoke
According to a farmer, only identified as Bigabwa, Macadamia is harvested by only picking the dropped fruits, because those picked from the tree are usually immature and may give a poor quality product.
He adds that a well-managed macadamia tree can yield up to 160kg and the average is 100kg per tree a season (after removing the top cover).
Macadamia trees fruit all year round. Each kilogramme is sold at sh5,000.
“For every 4kg of shelled seeds sold at sh5,000 each, one will get 1kg of clean seeds sold as nuts at sh100,000. Here, a farmer will get 25kg of clean seed equating to sh2.5m. At the ends of the value chain, Bigabwa packages other products, such as macadamia oil and butter.
“We package in 50gm and sell mainly in the bars at sh10,000,” he says, adding that the shells can be used as firewood, thus reducing cutting down of trees for fuel.
Bigabwa was an exhibitor in the 2024 Harvest Money expo.
