Martin Kadzere

Zimbabwe macadamia output is expected to remain steady this year after substantial amount of the nuts fell off the trees due heavy cyclone winds, an official has said.

Macadamia has only in recent years been produced on fairly bigger scale mainly in Chipinge and Chimanimani districts in the Manicaland Province and farmers are now looking at expanding the farming area of the high value export commodity. 

Output is expected at between 8 000 and 9 000 tonnes, Mr James Maisiri, the secretary general of Macadamia Association of Zimbabwe, a lobby group which represents commercial and small-scale farmers told The Herald Finance & Business in an interview.

“A significant amount of the nuts dropped due to cyclone winds early this year but otherwise we were going to have higher output,” said Mr Maisiri.

Harvesting of macadamia normally starts end of January but delayed this year due to prolonged rains.

Zimbabwe stands out to benefit from projected expansion of macadamia, as increasing awareness on health diet are expected to have a positive impact on the commodity.

In addition, organic macadamia is also gaining popularity with increasing demand coming largely from the European countries. The wide application of processed macadamia in different industrial segments, such as the food and beverage industry, and cosmetics and personal care industry, is also augmenting the growth of these nuts in the global market.

Australia, Hawaii in the United States, and South Africa are the largest macadamia production regions in the world, according to Macadamia Market – Growth, Trends and Forecasts (2020 – 2025).

The global macadamia nut market size is expected to reach US$24 billion by 2027, according to a recent report by Grand View Research, expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 9,2 percent from 2020. Mr Maisiri said there was growing interest among farmers, but funding constrains remain a major entry barrier. Out grower schemes would be panacea to farmer’s financial woes, he added.

Apart from small scale farmers, large macadamia producers include Tanganda Tea and Ariston. 

Mr Maisiri said that prices have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic with nut shell per kilogramme dropping from about to about US$2,50 from US$2,80 last year.

But the price still allows growers to make a profit.

The Macadamia Market – Growth, Trends and Forecasts (2020 – 2025) noted that there was need for Government initiatives to support production and trading of the commodity. “As a commodity witnessing rising demand, globally, along with the shortage of supply in the global market, leading to discrepancies in the demand-supply situation of the commodity, there is a dire need for investments in the industry and contributions from Government organisations, which, in turn, may act as a growth catalyst for the development of the market,” the report said.