Gia Lai (VNS/VNA) -The Central Highlands province of Gia Lai will expand macadamia cultivation bygrowing the nut in coffee plantations and forests, according to its Departmentof Agriculture and Rural Development.

It has more than 10,000ha offorest lands without forest trees, and macadamia trees could be planted there,it said.

Intercropping of macadamiatrees in coffee farms would be increased as the former can provide shade andshield coffee shrubs from winds besides providing an additional incomeequivalent to the income from coffee, it said.

The province has nearly100,000ha of coffee plantations where the macadamia could be intercropped, itadded.

Vu Ngoc An, deputy director ofthe department, said macadamia trees have been planted in the province since2010 mostly together with coffee.

Farmers normally intercrop 100– 150 macadamia trees per hectare of coffee field, he said.

The province has around 600haunder macadamia, including 580ha in Kbang District.

Ma Van Tinh, head of the KbangBureau of Agriculture and Rural Development, said farmers harvest of 1 – 1.5tonnes of nuts per hectare in case of monoculture and 500kg if intercropped.

They earn 50 – 150 million VND(2,150 – 6,450 USD) per hectare per year, he said.

Raw nuts are bought for 80,000– 120,000 VND (3.5 – 5.1 USD) per kilogramme.

In recent years the decline inthe prices of coffee, pepper and cashew, the province’s major crops, has causedmany farmers to intercrop macadamia with coffee and pepper or switch completelyto the nut to improve their incomes.

Macadamia offers higher incomesthan coffee while the production cost is lower, according to farmers.

Pham Van Vu planted 300macadamia trees in his 2ha coffee farm in Dak Doa District’s Hai Yang Communein 2013, and they began to yield nuts three years later.

“The harvest has beenincreasing steadily since 2017,” he said.  

He harvested one tonne lastyear and earned more than 100 million VND (4,300 USD) from it, he said.

He hopes to harvest 1.5 tonnesof nuts this year and earn 160 million VND (6,900 USD).

Traders rate the quality ofmacadamia in Hai Yang higher than in other places, and so farmers there do notneed to worry about being able to sell their produce, he added.

Diep Dai Quoc, director of the DakDoa District Agriculture Service Centre, said his centre plans to providefarmers with macadamia seedlings for intercropping on five hectares.  

Hai Yang would zone growingareas to develop macadamia into a specifically identified local product, hesaid.

The commune has 20ha under thenut, most of them interplanted in old coffee orchards.

It has an establishment thatbuys raw nuts and produces macadamia essential oil and other products, whichare sold to major cities like HCM City, Hanoi and Da Nang./.