Why Macadamia farmers are hawking their produce in funerals

All is not well for macadamia farmers in Central region as prices continue to plummet at the backdrop of global economic recession and overproduction.

Farmers have now started uprooting the trees wishing to replace them with other lucrative crops saying the government has relegated them by failing to secure a market for their produce.

Some are grinding the nuts in animal feeds factories for their dairy and chicken while others are selling them in tea factories for combustion.

Buyers on the other hand blame the low prices on decreased demand in export markets, surplus and delayed effect of the Covid-19 pandemic to the macadamia industry.

From a high of between Sh200 and Sh120 per kilogramme in the previous years, farmers are now receiving Sh45 for the same quantity from processors and Sh15 to Sh20 per kilogramme of the nuts from brokers.

“The existing monopoly in the market is hurting us… we need the market saturated so that there can be competition for our produce. The prices they are offering us is way below the production cost,” said Mr Peter Muchemi, a farmer in Tetu constituency.

Currently, there are only a handful of buyers in the market, and the farmers are at wit's ends trying to bargain for higher prices for their product.

April is the peak season for macadamia nuts. This is when they are harvested and transported to the buyers but they are still hanging on the trees that are already flowering for the next season crop.

“Harvesting was delayed because there was no one to buy them…This means even next season’s crop is already affected. We had a bountiful harvest this year and the prices dipped,” he added.

At Mr Peter Mucheru’s homestead in Kangaita, Tetu constituency, he is supervising the pulping of macadamia nuts that have just been harvested from his farm bearing about 30 trees.

The retired teacher is distraught like many other farmers. Though he has harvested a quarter of the crop in his farm he has nowhere to sell it. He has resorted to allowing school-going children to his farm to collect the nuts to their fill and felling some of the trees without harvesting them.

Mr Mucheru pointed an accusatory finger at government agencies charged with looking after the farmers’ welfare for “dropping the ball and going into a deep slumber and failing at their job.”

“I have done my part by taking care of the trees and ensuring there is a harvest annually, but the work of securing a market is above an ordinary farmer like me,” he said.

“This is a one-season crop and we are now selling it at a throwaway price because as farmers we have no defender… I do not think we deserve this kind of treatment. Farmers should not struggle,” he added.

For the last few years, the prices have been favourable to a point they encouraged dozens of farmers to shift their focus to macadamia farming which they intercropped with coffee and maize.

The export market was demanding that one buyer even bought the nuts without dehusking.

“It was a Chinese buyer who offered the highest price for our nuts in years… he disappeared into thin air and we suspect there was sabotage from the top. They should allow him back,” said Mr Stanley Kiragu, a farmer.

Now, the farmers are left with millions of nuts in their stores, some stashed in corners of their compounds rotting away.

In social events in the villages, it is not strange to find farmers hawking the nuts to mourners or merrymakers at between Sh10 and Sh20, especially to those visiting or giving them away.

The farmers said the buying price does not cover the harvesting, dehusking and transport cost which amounts to Sh500 a day to pay up to five people involved in the process.

“Macadamia farming is a loss making venture now because we are going back to our pockets to sell it at such low prices… we have no option but to fell the trees and plant silage for the cows,” said Ms Charity Wamuyu, a farmer.

In most homesteads, the farmers are busy harvesting and pulping the nuts with no buyer in sight. Some end up either in stores or hawked in the streets for less than Sh20 at best.

“We have asked questions as to why we are not being supported in selling and no concrete answer is being advanced to us. Everybody says there is no buyer,” she added, saying the price for the nuts in supermarkets should equate to what farmers receive for their labour.

Two months ago, Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria announced a temporary lift of the ban effected in 2015 to allow sale of the unprocessed macadamia nuts, but the prices have not improve despite the opening of the overseas markets.

The government announced that the prices for the nuts would start at Sh65 per kilogramme after the lift of the ban. But the farmers are telling a different tale.

“The buyer is rejecting all our nuts saying they are of poor quality. They come with a sorter and only carry the big nuts saying they are weighty but still buy at a throw away price,” said Mr James Muchemi, a farmer in Mirichu.

An expert in the sector told Saturday Nation that macadamia nuts are sold in styles that range from zero to nine – zero being the best and biggest nut.

In Kenya, the best that has reached the market is style four which is not entirely up to international market standards.

When the macadamia prices were up, farmers said they were able to send their children to school and upgrade their homes while the youth created employment for themselves by buying motorcycles and investing in other sectors.

Mr Michael Waweru complemented his earnings from the farm with a motorcycle from the proceeds of macadamia in 2019. He would make a tidy sum from transporting the nuts to processors by making multiple trips in a day.

“I even bought a dehusking machine at Sh30, 000 but now it is gathering dust in a store at home because no one is in need of it… some of us borrowed money to buy the bikes, we are being auctioned by the financial institutions,” he said.

This is a narrative replicated by dozens of other young farmers who hoped macadamia farming would offer them the respite that they lacked in coffee, tea and dairy farming.

The farmers said that some of the social ills such as alcohol and substance use among the masses have been a result of failed economic boost for agricultural productivity.

“Let the government empower us so that we can be able to sell the nuts directly as a group,” said Mr

Kenya has more than 30 macadamia nuts but less than 10 have been buying the produce from farmers as a majority of them have collapsed.

Sagana Nuts Limited Managing Director Michael Gatua said there are still attempting to sell produce that was bought and processed in 2021, adding that until the stockpile starts moving in the market, things will continue being tough for farmers.

“After Covid-19, the demand came down and some of the export market did not reopen… and for the last three years, there has been an overproduction worldwide against low demand,” he said.

From a price of about USD12 (Sh1, 362.72) for a kilogramme of nuts last year, processors are now receiving USD2 (Sh272) for the same quantity. Dollar at 113.56 in 2022

“We cannot break even with that kind of money,” he said, adding that China producing their own macadamia affected the demand for locally produced macadamia.

In Kenya, macadamia production went from 40, 000 Metric Tonnes to 50, 000 Metric Tonnes where only five percent of total production is consumed locally.

“Most of the macadamia nuts are not meeting the international standards because farmers are not taking care of the plant. They should water, feed manure and prune it for it to have a sizable nut. We are competing with premium nuts from South Africa and Australia for the US market,” he noted.

He says they intend to market the nuts collectively under the World Macadamia Organization to penetrate markets in China, India and increase their share in the USA.

Jungle Nuts CEO and marketing executive Patrick Wainana reiterated that the oversupply of macadamia for the last two years has contributed to the poor prices realized by farmers this year.

He said dozens of containers are stuck abroad with macadamia whose life span lapses after three years.

“China market that takes in about 40 percent of the world market nuts has been blocked for two years due to covid-19. Most of the macadamia is bought when they are marking their new year, they did not have time to buy. There is an oversupply in the US and Europe market and no one is buying,” he said.

In addition, he said that the international market had upped its standards where they require the processors to pasteurize the nuts before exporting which is an expensive investment that many processors cannot afford.

Mr Wainana also took issue with CS Kuria’s statement on lifting the ban on exportation of unprocessed macadamia noting that it has created confusion among the buyers who are sure of making long term commitments to either buy processed or unprocessed nuts.

“That was an unfortunate comment that has led to massive confusion in the world market. Nobody is coming for locally grown nuts, there is increased demand for macadamia from South Africa and Australia and we are losing out,” he said.

He further stated that despite macadamia being a foreign exchange earner, there is zero input in the industry by the government despite contributing fees to several government agencies for certification and licenses.

“For every container we export, we pay Sh48, 000 to Agriculture Food Authority (AFA) and other fees to Kephis and KNCCI but nothing is coming back… we have to train the farmers, offer extension services and provide seedlings as processors. We do all the work with no support from the government,” he added.

He advised farmers to stay put adding that should the market open up, the processor will offer them a bonus.

“We are still taking in farmers' produce in our cold rooms, once the buildup stocks start moving we are going to give them something like a bonus,” he said.

Efforts to reach Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi were futile as phone calls were not returned and he did not respond to questions sent to him via text.

[email protected]