Nuts Statistics

James Kariuki :jkariuki@apn.co.ke

Macadamia ,coconut and Cashew nut farming continued to attract interest among small scale farming in various parts of the country.

Macadamia

Area under cultivation of Macadamia has been on an upward trend buoyed by better farm gate prices as more and more farmers shun coffee farming in favour of macadamia farming

While former coffee zones were the early adopters of Macadamia farming ,the crop is fast gaining traction in non-traditional growing zones where the crop is being introduced as a new enterprise

Coconut

Coconut farming suffered a major setback when area under the crop shrunk by 9 percent from 906 ,84 hectares reported in 2020 to an estimated 77,566 hectares reported in .2021 The dry spell however had more adverse effects in Kilifi county where a substantial number of trees were reported to have dried up

Cashew Nuts

The performance of the cashew nut subsector in Kenya has been on a decline with rampant tree felling reported for supply of firewood for domestic and industrial use The problem has been worsened by low farm gate prices for cashew nuts contributing to depressed interest among local cashew nut farmers.