Dykin Green Farm macadamia seedlings. an acre can accommodate up to 70 macadamia trees on a spacing of ten by ten meters. Photo: Farmbiz Africa.
Farmers in Kenya can now up their macadamia production throughout the year, thanks to the newly introduced variety dubbed Murang’a 20 which can yield up to 300kg of nuts per tree as compared to 50kg of the common varieties.
Dykin Green Farm, a nursery farm based near Embu Town and which deals in grafted horticultural seedlings of different varieties and assorted flowers and which has been in seedlings business for over 30 years now has introduced the new varieties after the traditional ones started failing farmers.
“Despite the fact that a mature tree can produce between 80kg and 300kg of nuts, most farmers in the country harvest between 30kg and 50kg leading them to unnecessary production costs and reduced returns,” said Dickson Kivuti, owner of the nursery farm.
According to Kivuti, all their seedlings are grafted to ensure the quality and quantity of the produce per tree as the nut processors are currently looking for the new verity, probably because it produces more and quality oil as compared to the nuts from the indigenous varieties.
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An acre of land can accommodate up to 70 macadamia trees on a spacing of ten by ten meters.
Agriculturalists assert that congesting the trees affects nuts production, because the branches can meet, so denying them enough sunlight and different needed conditions for flowering and nuts production.
“Another mistake that farmers make is abandoning their trees after planting that they may grow on their own forgetting that they need weeding particularly at a tender age when their shades cannot suppress weeds,” said Kivuti
“This is why we try to educate starters in macadamia farming so that they may not incur losses that can be avoided.”
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Livestock manure is recommended to enable the crops to grow organically by also avoiding the use of pesticides that may affect their market standards especially for those producing for export.
“To the advantage of farmers, Murang’a 20 macadamia variety is hardy and adapts well to completely different climates hence it can do well in many parts of the country,” said Kivuti.
Most macadamia plants are disease-resistant crops and are not affected much with pests and insects.
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Apart from macadamia seedlings, Dykin Green Farm also produce and sell grafted mango, passion, apple, avocado, and tree tomato seedlings among others to farmers countrywide.
This is done by orders where customers place their requests on the type and number of the seedlings they need. The seedlings are then packed and transported to the buyer via currier or public transport services at their (buyers) costs.
Kivuti can be reached on +254 728 485842.