South Africa’s macadamia farmers, some of whom were deep in debt after a phase of exponential orchard development since 2015, are seeing the light as prices improve by 37% and nut demand is on the up worldwide.
High tonnages of carryover stocks since the 2022 price crash and a subsequent world glut are things of the past, and some say current conditions present a clean slate for what has been an industry under siege for three years.
Notwithstanding the recent threat by US President Donald Trump to slap a 30% increase on imported South African goods, pundits are confident that the country’s fledgling macadamia sector is on the cusp of a new phase of growth and development.
The story of the macadamia sector since 2010 – when world prices began to climb and farmers started planting up orchards at scale – has been described by many as the most unusual success story in the country’s agriculture history.
In 2015, South African macadamia exports, which exceeded exports out of Australia for the first time in that year, were pegged at a “record-breaking” 48 000 tons. Estimated exports a decade later are at 93 000 tons nut-in-shell, which is a 7% increase on the 2024 crop. Crop growth is forecast at 8% at least in the medium term.
In this edition of The Macadamia, CEO of the Green Farms Nut Company, Alex Whyte, reports on deliberations at the annual International Nut & Dried Fruit Council congress held in Spain. He calls for consolidation and refinement of local processing and marketing strategies in such a way that rather than a fractured industry chasing the best price at the expense of the overall health of the domestic industry, there is improved alignment and co-operation between players.
Further, the macadamia industry’s representative body, SAMAC, is on an aggressive drive to promote the domestic crop globally, as attendances at international conferences and meetings – specifically in India and China – show.
Possibly the most positive and delightful story though, is how Limpopo conservationist and farmer Chris James is saving South Africa’s charming Flap-necked chameleon from certain death in his macadamia orchards. Quite by chance, James discovered that the juvenile chameleons were in the way of his mechanised mowers and slashers.
Finally, the history of Australia’s macadamia industry is in print. The 200-page tome is available at https://scholarly.info/book/the-macadamia-australias-gift-to-the-world/ or as an e-book on Google books and Amazon. It is a fascinating read.
– Gareth Wright
