By Patience Lunda:
Minister of Trade and Industry, Sosten Gwengwe has said the government wants the country to become a top macadamia nuts exporter in the next five years.
Currently, Malawi is the third largest exporter of macadamia nuts in Africa after South Africa and Kenya and the seventh globally.
According to Gwengwe, the government has included the cash crop in the National Export Strategy II (NESII) as one way of diversifying from tobacco going forward.
He added that plans are underway to establish megafarms that will focus on production of macadamia nuts for export.
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“We are eyeing to be the biggest producer and exporter in the next five years and top three in the whole world because we want to take advantage of the fact that our soil is conducive for the growing of the crop,” Gwengwe said.
Catholic University of Malawi (Cunima) based economist Greenson Nyirenda said it is possible for the country to become the largest producer and exporter of macadamia nuts in the world, however, there is need for the government to remove barriers to producing and exporting the crop.
“It depends on incentives that are there because being number three or seven shows that we are not producing enough to surpass the other countries so what needs to happen among others is to reduce the cost of production so that they should increase capacity,” Nyirenda said.
Malawi exported macadamia nuts valued at $26.1 million in 2022 which represents 3.1 percent of the country’s total exports.
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On the global level, the crop’s trade value reached $865 million.
However, between 2021 and 2022 macadamia exports decreased by -5.85 percent from $919 million to $865million.
On March 16, 2024, President Lazarus Chakwera visited Tropha estate which processes and exports macadamia, paprika and chilies and called on industry players to increase volumes of manufactured products to substitute imported ones that put a drain on foreign currency reserves.
