Intersnack Schweiz AG

Macadamia project

An example of one of our field projects is the promotion of macadamia cultivation in Malawi, a collaboration between Intersnack, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the organization Development Aid from People to People (DAPP) in Malawi.

For a long time, many small farmers in Malawi lacked the necessary materials, knowledge and distribution channels to grow and sell macadamia nuts independently. Added to this, given that macadamia trees are slow-growing, long-term planning is necessary. It can take up to seven years from planting a macadamia seedling to harvesting the first nuts. It then takes another three to five years for the trees to produce a full yield.

The aim of the cooperation project is thus to provide small farmers with a new source of income. Since the project began in 2014, we and our partners have contributed to the planting of 300,000 macadamia trees. To date, we have been able to support more than 3,000 farmers as a result. It is particularly significant that half of them are women. The first harvest was originally expected in 2022. In fact, it was possible to harvest the first macadamia nuts in 2020 already. Consequently, we can look forward to yet more fruitful years.