While macadamia farmers in the irrigated north saved money on Eskom costs, growers in the south say heavier than usual rainfall increased disease pressure in their orchards.
As rainfall in the first four months of 2025 exceeded the average annual rainfall for KwaZulu-Natal, macadamia farmers are reporting increased pest infestations and flower disease in their orchards.
Coupled with a dry start to the 2024 season, cloudy days have also impacted yield, with access to orchards a massive challenge during the current harvest.
Local macadamia experts say extreme rainfall, particularly along the coastal regions of the province, has augmented outbreaks of fungal and flower diseases such as Botryosphaeria, phytophthora and husk rot, with late rains in the spring of 2024 delaying the flowering on some of the tree varieties.
One expert, who asked not to be named, said wetter conditions and out of season rain had made pest control difficult as tractors were unable to get to the orchards and the lifecycle of some pests had changed in accordance with the climatic conditions. “It becomes harder to control the borer complex, in particular,” the expert said.
One of the key standouts for effective orchard management over the past three years, the expert added, was managing the influence of the climate on tree health and yield. “Good orchard practices still play a significant role in good yields, but climatic conditions are now more prevalent as an influencing factor than ever before. We are advising macadamia farmers to improve access to their orchards, and drainage; and to understand that managing effectively is not calendar-based but being able to read the conditions and respond accordingly.”
Monitoring irrigation, and using probes, was crucial and one was not effective without the other. Also, farmers are advised to use biological control as an effective pest control method when it’s impossible to apply chemicals because of wet weather.
Johan Boonzaaier, Chief Executive at the Impala Water Users’ Association in Pongola, said from January 2024 to December 2024, rainfall in the region measured 688mm. “From January to May this year, we have already measured 691mm”
Chairman of KwaZulu-Natal’s South Coast Macadamia Farmers’ Association Quinton Elliot said the region had 1 000mm of rain between January and April. The annual average rainfall for the area is 1 100mm. In the same period in 2024, he said farmers on the South Coast measured just 537 mm of rain. The crop, he said, was 5% and 10% down on previous annual harvests – however, it was still early into the harvesting season, which usually ends in August and September. The lower yield, he added, could be attributed to an excessive number of cloudy days during the growing season.
“This year we have had much higher incidences of mould and it has been a challenge getting the harvest in as the orchards have been so wet.”
Interestingly, he added that here and there individual trees – some as old as 20 years – had died from the extreme wet weather. ‘It wasn’t widespread, but it was interesting that some trees just fell over.”
Pongola macadamia farmer Laurie Brecher said the higher than usual rainfall had allowed for savings on irrigation costs. “We didn’t have that much in the way of increased disease or pest infestations because we were able to manage the water in our orchards. In fact, we didn’t have to irrigate for two months, which meant we saved on Eskom costs. The challenge for us wasn’t in the orchard but rather once we had harvested. We started harvesting at the end of February and because the nuts were so wet we had to leave them in the drier for a couple of days longer to make sure they were dry enough before sending them to the processor,” Brecher said.
As South Africa’s macadamia industry moves into a recovery phase after a three-year price low, farmers are urged to boost their feeding and pruning programmes. “With rock bottom returns since 2022, we advised growers to do the basics right, use reputable products from loyal and reliable companies, and to make sound economic decisions rather than look over the fence to see what the neighbour is doing. We also urged them not to cut back on the non-negotiables like fertiliser, pest and disease control and pruning,” the expert said.
But now that prices were coming back farmers should pick up on optimum orchard management and integrated pest management practices.
Both Elliot and the expert agreed that macadamia farmers, particularly in Kwazulu-Natal, which had seen exponential growth in new orchards since 2015, were adopting some of the most modern and up-to-date management methods. “Between 2015 and 2021 it was all about developing new orchards and tree-planting. Now we are seeing the increased use of technology, good record keeping and precision agriculture becoming more common. The farmers are also questioning remedial recommendations, rather than just doing what they have always done,” they said.
Farmers were also interested in learning more about the crop and how to be better and more economical, from tree health right the way through to harvesting and curing the crop.
“Hard times make good farmers and there have been some casualties since 2022, but I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing,” the expert said.
Article
Colleen Dardagan
