The Murrimo Macadâmias company, established in Mozambique under a joint venture between a company in South Africa and another in the Netherlands, is due in March to start its first harvest of nuts five years after starting planting on a plot in Gurué, in the central province of Zambezia.
The consortium made up of South African companies Crookes Brothers Limited and White Bird International BV, of the Netherlands, with experience in the production of fruits and other crops in Swaziland and Zimbabwe, has already invested more than US$24 million in planting macadamia on a 3,000-hectare plot, of which 240 hectares have already been planted.
The arboreal plant, originally from Australia, provides a nut used for food and in the production of oil, to use in the food industry and beauty products.
The Director of Human Resources of the company, Palelane Junior, told Mozambican newspaper O País that the company has already secured markets for the nuts, particularly in Europe, Asia and North America, “and we are now committed to ensuring the quality of the product so that nothing fails.”
In addition to the 240 hectares of macadamia nuts, Murrimo Macadâmias also produces maize and beans in a 660-hectare area, products that are sold locally for domestic consumption and to supply small animal feed factories.
During a prospecting trip to the region in search of opportunities for fruit production, the head of one of the two consortium companies contacted the owners of a company that produces tea and concluded that they wanted to close the company and to dispose of the land.
Due to agro-ecological conditions in the region, said the financial director of the company, Ricardo Maria, the consortium took on the fields to invest in the production of macadamia nuts, a new crop that is being introduced in Mozambique.
Source: macauhub