Farmers smell the coffee and ditch crop for macadamia

Peter Ngige, a macadamia farmer, tends to his crop at Gikondi village, Mukurwe-ini, in Nyeri last week. [Kibata Kihu, Standard]

Even as the Government attempts to turn around the fortunes of coffee farmers in central Kenya, the number of those replacing the bushes with macadamia trees is one the rise.

Spurred on by the seemingly insatiable demands of a thriving nut export market, the farmers are benefiting from prompt payments and lucrative returns uncommon in the coffee sector.