South Africa: Macadamia Nut Farming Takes Root in Rural Buffalo City Municipality

Macadamia Nut

The Vulindlela Traditional Council in Ncera Village outside East London in the Buffalo City Municipality is breathing life into the concept of "rural economic development" through macadamia nut farming and agri-tourism.

The community of about 40 000 citizens under the leadership of acting Chief Princess Nomaxhosa Jongilanga has partnered with private investors to establish a macadamia farming business to create much needed economic activity in the village.

Ncera Macadamia Farming (Pty) Ltd currently focuses on producing and importing macadamia nuts with plans to establish a hotel and organise a macadamia harvest festival to attract tourists in the village.

Members of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), the National Assembly, provincial legislatures and councillors from the Buffalo City Municipality visited the macadamia plantation this week as part of the Taking Parliament to the People Programme currently underway in East London.

Princess Jongilanga told the delegation that after realising that rural areas were always behind in service delivery and economic development, compared to urban areas, the tribal council decided to use the land to create economic activity in the village.

"The company hired 150 people from the community in the macadamia plantations and they also go through skills development training provided by the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. Plans are also in place to build a hotel in this area and we hope to attract tourists because of our proximity to the sea. We want to create something that will make people come to Ncera and put the village on the world map," she said.

Next, the community plans to host a macadamia nut harvest festival and have exhibitions about the nuts and the products that can be made out of them. The industry is around 50 years old in South Africa, with the oldest trees found in Limpopo and Mpumalanga.

Mr Mkhululi Phakade, a director in the company, said Ncera has given the Eastern Cape a template to develop macadamia farming as a new industry in the province. This is also an opportunity for the country to consider macadamia nuts farming and processing, he said.

"This model, training rural communities to farm macadamia and involving them in the business part of it, has never been done before in the country. The plan is to roll out macadamia farming around the Wild Coast," he told the parliamentarians. He said their long-term plan was to build a processing plant in East London in the next 10 years.

Member of the Gauteng Legislature Mr Phutas Tseki commended the partnership and said it was good for future investment. "We are impressed by the passion and enthusiasm and would like to urge government to continue supporting the project so that it can grow, create more jobs and make rural economic development a reality," he said.

To date the farm has received a total of R48 million in funding from various government departments. The farm's produce is exported overseas. The company also intends expanding its operations in macadamia farming to other parts of the country, possible sites have been identified in Limpopo and Mpumalanga.

Responding to complaints about the state of the roads to the royal house and the plantations, delegation Leader Mr Mandla Ray said: "the issue of access roads to royal palaces will be followed up with the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, who made a commitment that all royal households will be treated the same".