Intercropping coffee with macadamia trees is widespread in Kenya’s Embu county. Local Grace Wamuchira says to have achieved this, it has been a 25-year long journey for most families since they embraced macadamia as an alternative cash crop. Ms Wamuchira says families in the area opted for the nuts because at the time a kilo of coffee was selling at between Sh40 and Sh35 while a similar quantify of macadamia was at Sh80 or Sh100, depending on the season.
Wamuchira saysbrokers buy the lucrative nuts at between Sh20 and Sh80 per kilo and wondered why instead of the prices increasing in consistence with other products, it was decreasing and unpredictable.
Regardless of the challenges affecting macadamia production in the area, growers maintain that they are still hopeful of better times ahead and thus the reason they are keeping the trees.
[ Sh100 = €0.78 ]
Source: the-star.co.ke
Photo source: Dreamstime.com
