As we enter in short rain season let’s plant macadamia trees, pleads nursery operators
The Mountain Journal
More than two million macadamia seedlings are overgrown in fruit trees nurseries following apathy created by low prices in the market.
Presently, a kilogramme of macadamia nuts is going for between Sh30 and Sh60 depending on processing factories.
Chairman of Fruit Trees Association of Kenya (FTAK) Mr Nahason Mugi said the farmers are counting losses following the hundreds of overgrown seedlings for the majority of over 18 months in the nurseries.
The offered prices of the commodity is down from the previous years of between Sh200 and Sh 240 per kilogramme of nuts.
Mugi, a tree nursery operator in Mathioya, Murang’a the lucky farmers are selling their seedlings at between Sh 30 and Sh70, down from Sh 350 and Sh450 in the year 2018 and 2019.
“ Once the price of the nuts declines, the entire value chain is affected, thus the need for the stakeholders including Agriculture Food Authority (AFA) to address the marketing concerns,” said the chairperson.
He further detailed that in the year 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 they sold hundreds of seedlings as a kilogramme of nuts fetched between Sh180 and Sh200.
Chairman of Nut Traders Association Mr Johnson Kihara claimed the root cause in the macadamia nuts value chain emerged after crooked nursery operators emerged and were awarded contracts by the Ministry of Agriculture.
The presence of the seedlings in the nurseries is a major concern, he observed, saying there is need for the government to conduct an audit on the public servants who have edged the licensed fruit trees operators from the market.
A seedling takes a minimum of 18 months in the nursery as recommended by experts.
In Murang’a County, there are more than 400,000 overgrown seedlings, while in Embu there are above 300,000 seedlings.
The processors have too established their nurseries for the purpose of getting more supplies from the growers.
Hundreds of farmers in the past 10 years planted macadamia as an alternative to coffee.
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