19/03/2024
Pollination services with honey bees will improve your crop yield and quality per hive.
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[Long post ahead]
I invested a good deal in researching and revisiting my personal time involved in MACADAMIA pollination work in South Africa ... AND INTERVIEWED PROFESSOR HANNELIE HUMAN, TUKKIES!
MACADAMIA FARMING IS NUTS!
South Africa has planted 6000+ new hectares annually over the last few years and more are being planted every season!
Generating up to R5 BILLION in value in 2022, all of the mainstream and some agricultural news and platforms ALL SPEAK about boosting macadamia yield yet NONE MENTION HONEYBEE POLLINATION!!
[https://www.foodformzansi.co.za/learn-more-about-macadamia-farming/]
In South Africa, macadamia nuts are primarily produced in Levubu and Tzaneen in the Limpopo Province, Hazyview in the Mpumalanga province as well as the coastal KwaZulu Natal. The industry in South Africa has grown significantly in value over time to become the World's Largest Macadamia Producer!
South Africa is now the biggest producer of macadamia nuts in the world, followed by Australia. 'From around 2013 up to 2021 were some of the best and most profitable years for macadamia nut producers.' - [Farmer's Weekly]
Macadamia production in Southern Africa: The production growth
With a production increase of more than 20-fold in the last 20 years, macadamias have become the fastest-growing tree crop industry in South Africa. Production grew from 1,211 tonnes of nut-in-shell (NIS) in 1991 to an estimated 61,288 tonnes in 2022.
[https://www.globalafricanetwork.com/company-news/macadamia-nuts-the-future-of-high-value-crop-farming/]
Yield targets are set to 2.3t/ha to make the high value crop profitable and THIS is where honeybees contribute as a major boost according to Professor Hannelie Human and Warrick Selzer in the interview below.
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The fee for pollinating macadamia is recommended as follows:
R980 per hive per 48 days with 4 bee hives per hectare.
The trees flower from August to September, and the nuts develop over 31 weeks.
Roughly, 168,000 - 264,000 pollination-standard bee hives are required currently to service this industry and growing with its estimated 65 693 hectares established in South Africa. [https://samac.org.za/industry-statistics/]
Flowering period is up to 6-weeks depending on varietals.
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20% MORE NUTS [*as per Hannelie Human's Research on 4 varietals]
MORE WEIGHT [*as per Hannelie Human's interview and Research]
LARGER DIAMETER PER NUT [SAMAC Research by Hannelie Human]
Overall, the Macadamia Industry gains at least 400 kilograms more produce and generates an additional revenue of R1 Billion... Yes! Billion...with bees!
Planting a macadamia crop can cost around R60,000, with a potential income of R178,000* per hectare once the orchard starts producing. *More with higher yielding locations and management + using bees!
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Macadamia are the labour-intensive nuts grown in South Africa!
This means that all of the staff involved from sorting and packing to washing, grading, packing and distribution all get more work and that means more pay.
Most of the industryโs workers are seasonal; still, for harvesting and processing during February and August, at least ten thousand permanent jobs have been created, and over nine thousand during peak seasons.
As a pollination provider, you could provide pollination cover for at least 6 weeks during the standard flowering period however some farmers plant a range of varietals that flower at roughly the same of the year in differing rows to assist with cross pollination which macadamia need.
Depending on the varietal of macadamia planted the minimum increase in yield is 12% & MAKE NUTS 2% wider diameter making more macadamia nuts THAT ARE HEAVIER.
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Grower 2 tons + 20% = 0.4 tons extra yield x $15x R19/kg = +R114,000/ha
Beekeeper is paid R980 x 4 hives per 48 days = +/- R3920/ha
At this ratio, the farmer pays the beekeeper R980x 4 for an overall input cost of R3920/ha however may earn up to R114,000/ha in additional macadamia yield production!!
Green Farms Nut Company (GFNC) this month announces its annual price offer [2022]
GFNC's price offer of $15 US dollars per kg is an average price across all nut grades and will be cushioned by exchange rate benefits. Prices vary considerably depending on style, quality, geographical area, and cultivar. Larger whole nut grades command a premium price, with ingredient grades presenting more of a challenge to sell. [https://agtag.co.za/category/14/post/30478]
๐๐ก๐จ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ฑ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐?
In 2021, the top exporters of Macadamia nuts were South Africa ($277M), Australia ($246M), Kenya ($101M), Netherlands ($39.7M), and Guatemala ($38.2M). In 2021, the top importers of Macadamia nuts were China ($230M), United States ($161M), Germany ($85.6M), Vietnam ($62.9M), and Japan ($51.8M). [https://oec.world/profile/hs/macadamia-nuts]
๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐๐ก ๐๐จ๐๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ ๐ฒ๐ข๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ ๐ก๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก ๐๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐?
Over the past three years we have seen a consistent drop in yields, going from three tons per hectare in 2019 to 2.3 tons per hectare in 2020 and 2.1 tons per hectare last year. This puts the three-year average at 2.4 tons per hectare for trees older than nine years.
[https://themacadamia.co.za/2022/04/08/benchmarking-study-suggests-a-return-in-mac-yields]
These results showed that pollination efficiency could be improved if key management related to bee strength, distribution and health care are taken into account.
Due to these results, we encourage growers and beekeepers to include precision pollination practices to both increase the productivity of blueberry fields and the well-being of honey bees within agro-ecosystems.
๐๐จ๐ญ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ข๐๐๐ซ ๐
๐จ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ:
Growers may not receive efficient pollination services if hives are low quality (i.e., have low number of frames covered with bees, or bees with high levels of pests) and/or beehives are placed far from the field to pollinate.
Beekeepers, on the other hand, may lose many hives if pesticides are applied during flowering (i.e., colony loss by intoxication) and/or if flower resources within or surrounding the farm are not sufficient in terms of abundance or quality to sustain their well-being (i.e., colony loss by starvation)
If you're interested in learning more, contact us today at Bee Wareยฎ to explore how we can help you make your bee hives more profitable than ever before.
Visit our website: https://beeware.co.za/training/
Contact us at +27 12 771 4288
By tapping into the demand for honeybee pollination, you not only secure your income but also become a crucial part of the agricultural success story.
