The success of macadamia in the Philippines

Macadamias production in the Philippines is going well. According to this article the yield is 34 kg/tree/year and the farmer can sell the Nuts In Shell (NIS) for 4.70 Dollars. Yields and prices are much higher than in African countries.

In Tarlac the annual rainfall is high (2000 mm/year) and the altitude is low (below 100 meters) and the average temperature is 27.1 degrees C. Perhaps the climatic conditions, the absence of many pests and diseases, and the great cultivars are the reasons of the high yields and quality of the macadamia in the Philippines compared to other parts of the world.

In Bohol the annual rainfall is also around 2000 mm/year, but it's more distrubuted, which seems to be even better. But the only places where macadamias are available is in Tarlac and in some parts of Mindanao. My goal in October 2017 is to start an agricultural organization in Bohol with the following activities:

• To ask farmers in Bohol to join the Management Information System (MIS) for macadamia production.
• To set prepare a nursery and a plot for macadamias for scion production for grafting practices.

Starting from scratch

Seedlings or grafted cultivars?

In Tarlac there is a nursery, perhaps with grafted cultivars. Grafted macadamias have higher yields and much earlier: after 4-7 years, with a lifespan of 30-70 years. Seedlings yield after 8-20 years and have a lifespan of 100-500 years. 

Seedlings can be propagated from fresh macadamia nuts which are shipped from Tarlac or Mindanao to Bohol. This will be much cheaper solution because a box of 10 kg fresh nuts can produce 1000 seedlings, while a box of 10 kg living grafted macadamias contain 10 macadamias. Perhaps the best solution is to combine a fresh seeds and living plants.

How to transport the seeds and plants?

In the Philippines there are many domestic shipping companies. What is the best way to get the macadamias from Tarlac to the nursery in Bohol?

Who can provide the nursery?

For the nursery a landowner is needed who is very interested and dedicated to data keeping via MIS. There is not only land needed to host the nursery, but there is also land needed where the macadamia cultivars are cultivated. Here the main purpose is to harvest branches for grafting new macadamias.

After years of studies in Bsc. Tropical Agriculture (2010-2015) and agricultural and information gathering about perennial crops at rozendale.org since 2013; I will provide an Intercropping Model for farmers. This model has ecological benefits for the farm and the commercial crops in this model are: Macadamia nuts, Pitahaya fruits, Cocoa seeds, Muvingo timber, and construction poles from Gliricium sepum. Therefore the nursery should also be able to provide those crops to the members of the organization. Cocoa and Pitahaya is already popular and available in Bohol and Cebu. Muvingo seeds will be imported from Kenya.

Root improvement through Mycorrhyza innoculation

In the nursery the seedlings will be planted in bigger pots with the inoculatation AM-fungi. This is fungi that causes mycorrhiza in the soil: This is a symbiosis between plant roots and a type a fungi (especially Glomus intradices fungus). This fungi is naturally present in natural forests, but in annual farmlands it is destroyed through ploughing and tilling. In the Philippines perhaps other Glomus species are present in the soil, but G. intradices is known as the most effective fungus to for optimal mycorrhiza. This fugnus and other beneficial bacterias for healthy soil are available in a European product. I want to introduce this product to Bohol as well to inocultate the roots of the macadamias while putting them in bigger pots. Especially the slow growing Dalbergia melanoxylon (Muvingo tree) responses well to this inoculant; one the worlds finest timber species.