Macadamia nut prices have started stabilising following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions globally.
For the last one-and-half years, the pandemic had ripped the global market leaving farmers to grapple with their products in stores.
The farmers had been left with tons of the produce stuck in their stores since most macadamia nuts processors stopped buying the nuts.
This gave middlemen a field day to exploit farmers by buying the nuts at throw-away prices from as low as Sh30 per kilogram.
The prices are however on an upward scale. Currently, a kilogram of the nuts is selling at Sh120.
Jungle Nuts Ltd chief executive officer Patrick Wainaina said the prices will not decline but will rise as the global market resumes and expands.
Speaking on Wednesday, Wainaina said the pandemic had caused a drastic decline in prices from Sh200 per kilo in 2019 to Sh60 as of October last year.
“Processors have been struggling with the product because the market has been very difficult due to the pandemic. The market is stabilizing and prices are increasing significantly,” Wainaina said.
He said the macadamia nut farming especially in the Mt Kenya region is overtaking tea and coffee farming as a top income earner for farmers.
“Before Covid-19, global demand for macadamia was on an incline mode and this saw the prices skyrocket. Macadamia farming has minimal government interference thus making it a lucrative business for farmers,” he said.
Speaking to the Star on phone, farmers said they were happy following the resumption of the global macadamia market and prices stabilization.
Lawrence Ndarwa a farmer from Gituamba in Gatundu North said he has been harvesting and storing his macadamia nuts waiting to fetch better prices.
“I am happy that the long wait is coming to an end. When the pandemic struck the country, the prices declined drastically from between Sh180 and Sh200 per kilogram,” Ndarwa said.
“Brokers saw this as an opportunity and have been buying the nuts from as little as Sh30. I declined to sell my produce until the prices stabilized.”
Njenga Nderi from Ngorongo village in Gatundu North called on the government to intervene in the macadamia market and put in place proper policies to regulate the farming, markets and prices.
He said lack of proper policies have seen the nuts market deteriorate drastically especially since the onset of Covid-19.
“Most farmers are shifting from coffee and tea farming to Macadamia farming because of the high proceeds achieved,” Nderi said.
“We don’t want a situation whereby macadamia nuts farming will collapse due to the infiltration of middlemen and brokers as well as oppressive policies. The government must protect farmers.”
Edited by Kiilu Damaris