The Mountain Journal The price of macadamia has appreciated threefold, with farmers getting better payment of between Sh100 and Sh130 per kilogramme.This is an improvement of the payment from Sh30 of last year when the commodity was being hawked after the American and European markets rejected the nuts citing a depressed economy. This happens when a clique of nut processors plans to proceed to court to block the export of the in-shell allowed by the Ministry of Agriculture, citing their profit margin has been affected by the Chinese traders.The gain in payment follows the suspension of section 43 of the AFA Act in November last year that had outlawed the export of in-shell.Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi suspended the Act for 12 months following the cry of the growers over the lack of the market as the Chinese market embraced raw nuts. Nut Traders Association of Kenya (Nutak) chairman Johnson Kihara said they had lobbied for the removal.
Kihara said the suspension of the regulation ends November 1 this year. The window, Kihara adds has created an impact with increased export of the commodity to the Chinese market by the applicants.“The dealers have exported more than 50 containers of in-shells a move that stabilized the price,” said Kihara.Last week, the dealers from Murang’a, Meru, Kirinyaga, Embu, and Nyeri converged at a Sagana Hotel, where they said there was an indication of the price to hike to Sh150 per kilogramme,” said Kihara.AFA Marketing Officer Mr Kiragu Gathunya said as the harvesting season starts next month, the unregistered dealers will be dealt with, after they are implicated in the delivery of immature nuts that have compromised the market. He explained that a survey established that 75 percent of the agents contracted by the processing companies are yet to register to comply with the regulations.Kiragu said the conditions introduced are geared to streamline the industry and return of sanity.“AFA has embarked on surveillance to weed out those out to compromise the market that earns the government billions of revenue,” said Kiragu. He disclosed that Mt Kenya nut farming was at risk as more macadamia farms have been established in Nakuru, Kericho, and Uasin Gishu where the farmers own huge tracks of land.“ Ensure you harvest mature nuts as the dealers might be forced to relocate to the new areas for business,” said Kiragu. A macadamia nut processor Ndirangu Nyorotha said there are more than 20,000 metric tonnes of processed nuts in the warehouses, going into waste due to lack of the market following last year’s state of the economy in the international markets.“ In my Sagana warehouse, there are processed nuts estimated at Sh18 million, which cannot be shipped after losing the requisite taste,” said Ndirangu a member of the Nutak.John Mwangi Kagombe, a farmer in Mathira said opening the window helped the nut farmers earn better after months of incurring heavy costs. Last year, the farmers incurred heavy loses as the majority went into hawking the commodity after the processors rejected the produce.“ Macadamia nuts were sold to run boilers in the KTDA-managed factories as an alternative to wood fuel,” said Kagombe.www.themountainjournal.co.ke
