Retired teacher finds nourishment in macadamia

Kenya: When he retired in 2007, Fredrick Kiloo, 63, decided to use his retirement money for macadamia farming. Though it was challenging at first, Kiloo, has broken even and is happy with where he is.

Visitors to his farm in Kaptere village in Baringo North sub-county, Baringo County, are welcomed by the thick canopy of healthy-green macadamia trees signifying high production. And from this, he makes about Sh250,000 in a year.

He shares his journey with Smart Harvest: “It was Kenya Agricultural Research Institute who introduced us to the crop. They explained to us that the crop takes more than five years for the first harvest. This put off many people, but I tried my luck,” says Kiloo, a retired teacher.

The former primary school teacher says he used his savings to buy seeds then planted them.

When they were ready, his first challenge was getting a ready market.

“People did not know much about the crop, thus I had no market. I had to crack the mature macadamia nuts, roast and package in small sachets where I took to supermarkets in Kabarnet town where I sold for Sh10. The customers liked them so much, I got motivated,” he recalls.

His passion for the crop pushed him to learn more about macadamia by attending numerous seminars.

Slowly and with patience and determination, Kiloo has increased his macadamia trees on his three-acre plot.

Having succeeded in this form of farming, he has embarked on campaign to have farmers embrace the new crop.

So far he has ‘recruited’ almost 50 farmers.

“In 2013, as farmers, we were tired of brokers and decided to form a cooperative society where we can sell our produce collectively. We registered it last year,” he says.

Surprisingly, after they registered Baringo Macadamia Cooperative Society where he was elected treasurer, they managed to get a processing firm — Wonder Nut — which agreed to buy their nuts at Sh115 per kilo.

He says annually, he gets more than 2,000 kilogrammes of the nuts, which translates to about Sh250,000 in earnings from the two varieties of macadamia he grows — Integrifolia and Tetraphylla.

“Despite the long time the crop takes to mature, my patience is paying off. From my earnings from macadamia I can pay for my children’s college fees and maintain my family,” he says.

 

What he loves most about macadamia farming is that they are not prone to pests and are disease-resistant.

At his farm, Kiloo also keeps traditional chicken and three zero-grazed dairy cows.

“I take the cow dung from my zero-grazing unit and the droppings from the chicken and use them as manure,” he says.

Macadamia, according to Kiloo, is a crop that needs a lot of patience. He says moving from seeding to crafting alone takes two years. The planting hole has to be dug, manure put and left for three months before planting it.

Since he began using manure, his produce increased from 500 kilogrammes in 1996 to more than 2,000 kilos a year. The process of harvesting the macadamia nuts also needs patience as one has to wait for the mature nuts to fall from the trees.

“In order to get high quality nuts, one has to wait for the nuts to fall off the tree. If you pluck them yourself, there is high likelihood that the nuts will not be ripe enough and as a result compromises quality,” he says.

The biggest challenge with the nuts is rodents and birds that love to feast on the mature nuts while on the trees.

That notwithstanding, Kiloo says macadamia is the next ‘in thing’ in farming.

“The failure of many farmers is that they want a crop that takes the shortest time and earn them quick cash. I have three acres, but I beat those with more than 20 acres so farmers must maximise from the little they have,” he advised.

Macadamia nuts, which are small buttery flavoured nuts are grown in tropical climates of Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Kenya, New Zealand and South Africa and are considered the world’s finest nuts.