The Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) has put on notice farmers and traders harvesting, selling, processing of immature macadamia nuts and smuggling them outside the country.
The authority has threatened to take legal action against those involved and suspend the licenses issued to companies trading in the farm produce.
Kenya is one of the top producers of macadamia as it is ranked the third globally with a market share of 13 per cent.
This year’s production – mainly in central Kenya and upper Eastern regions – is expected to exceed 100,000 metric tonnes, from more than 46,000 metric tonnes produced in 2024.
Dr Bruno Linyiru, the AFA Director General, says the directive followed surveillance in macadamia growing belts in the country showing that there was “harvest, handling, trading and processing of immature macadamia nuts”
“Unauthorised trading of nuts by unlicensed individuals, particularly marketing agents and smuggling (of nuts)in-shell out of the country” – are some of the malpractices identified by the authority in the statement issued on February 7, 2025.
It includes “improper discharge of rejected low quality nuts into the supply chain where they are often mixed with higher quality nuts and sold to unsuspecting processors.”
“The law requires that all exports of nuts and oil crops produce and products including macadamia nuts to go through designated customs ports and exports permits must be applied for electronically through Ken Trade TFP single-window system for each shipment,” Dr Linyiru stated.
AFA further stated: “Regulation 23 of the Crops (Nuts and Oil Crops) Regulations, 2020 stipulates that macadamia nuts must only be harvested, handled and processed when they are physiologically mature. It also binds dealers engaging in “collecting, transporting, storing, distributing, buying or selling nuts and oil crops produce, products or by products, marketing agents, exporters, importers, ship chandlers, and commercial nursery operators”, to stick to the regulations and the law.
The national and county governments are encouraging farmers in the country to grow the macadamia which is a high paying crop, in what would also address issues that mitigates against climate change and reforestation.
Kenya, along with South Africa, largely supplies the produce to Germany, with Kakuzi being one of the largest producers in the country.
The South Rift region is known for production of avocados, tea, pyrethrum, maize and horticultural crops, and is part of the country’s food basket.
