Slight growth for macadamias

Rudolf Badenhorst, SA Subtropical Fruit Growers Association industry affairs manager, said, “The macadamia industry experienced extensive damage especially in the Levubu area, but we haven’t been able to determine the full extent of the damage as yet.”

Agri SA deputy president Dr Theo de Jager said the macadamia fruit were still very small, and therefore could be less affected than other subtropical crops. The estimated tonnage of macadamia in the 2010 season was 25 800t nuts in shell, slightly higher than 2009’s 23 000t. Badenhorst said the industry has grown due to new plantings coming into production, but expectations for 2011 still looked slightly down from the previous year.