Seed Capital

Momoko Harada is turning macadamia nuts in Rwanda’s verdant, virgin fields into valuable export currency, in turn also helping the farmers and protecting the environment.

- Words and photo by Ridhima Shukla

At a factory farm, about a 45-minute drive east of the Kigali city center in Rwanda, is a modern facility where the world’s most expensive edible nut – macadamia – is being laboriously processed.

The delightfully round nuts dangle off dainty trees – some the height of a Sports Utility Vehicle – overlooking the valley and are picked by the farmers as they drop to the ground.

Momoko Harada, the 41-yearold Managing Director of the Rwanda Nut Company, is often among the farmers, overseeing their rich, daily pickings.

The mother of two with a keen eye for detail turns around and points out to us: “It takes 15 years for a macadamia tree to grow to this puny size, it takes a lot of patience and discipline in the farmer to not pluck them right offthe branch.”

Native to Australia, the macadamia nut’s demand has grown consistently among the world’s richest and discerning consumer markets. Kenya and South Africa are among the top exporters of the golden nut. Rwanda too has now joined the race for growing and exporting this prized natural commodity.

This is in line with the landlocked country’s strategy to diversify its crop exports beyond coffee and tea in ways that are sustainable and expandable.

Unlike other nations in the race, Rwanda’s weather conditions favor macadamia farming, allowing yields around the year as compared to only seasonal harvests. This realization led to the introduction of the crop to farmers of all scales by the leadership of the nation along with NGOs and the World Bank in 2004.