Macadamia, another promising export basket crop for Malawi

It has been revealed that Macadamia could be bringing much needed forex for the country’s economic growth.

This was revealed in this year’s Malawi Investment and Trade Centre (MITC) annual Exporters seminar for 2019 held on Tuesday in the capital Lilongwe.

It has been identified that Macadamia grades are known as styles that its average price is pegged at US$16.50/kg at the international market.

According to Amos Suluma of Naming’omba formally Nyasa Tea Estates, the company is advancing on Macadamia cultivation.

He added that Malawi is standing bon a chance of making much profits from the crop if properly considered.

Suluma added that Malawi Macadamia matures earlier compared to the South African crop.

“Our crop matures earlier than the leading producer, South Africa,” Suluma said.

He added; “As a result we are able to negotiate better prices since there is a lot of demand at the time we start selling.”

Macadamia is purely an export crop and if properly promoted, the country can generate the much needed foreign forex exchange.

Suluma further added that this year’s production is likely to increase compared to the past years.

“We used to export 6 containers in 2013/14. This year, we are going to export 15 containers to Europe and USA,” he said.

He however expressed the biggest challenge of practicing the farming, despite the potential that lies in the crop, it takes long time for farmers to start harvesting, about seven years.