Thika macadamia nuts processor pays Sh350m bonus to farmers

Thika-based macadamia processor Jungle Nuts has made a Sh350 million bonus payout to its farmer-suppliers.

The company said on Monday that the money was disbursed to its 30,000 farmers, implying an average payout of about Sh11,666 per farmer.

The bonus comprised Sh60 per kilogram of organic nuts and Sh30 per kilogramme of conventional nuts.

The bonus is in addition to the Sh110 farm-gate per-kilo price paid on supply of the conventional nuts.

Jungle Nuts chief executive Patrick Wainaina said the highest-paid farmer received a bonus of Sh700,000.

“The whole concept is to encourage the farmers to increase production of the crop,” said Mr Wainaina in an interview.

The nut processors face stiff competition from middle-men who buy the crop from farmers for export.

Most macadamia farmers who supply the company with nuts are from Murang’a, Kiambu, Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Embu, Tharaka-Nithi, Taita Taveta, Baringo and Trans-Nzoia.

Jungle Nuts has a workforce of 1,500.

The farmers have an option of trading their bonus with farm inputs such as fertilisers and seedlings.

“The farmers can also use their bonus to take a loan from Jungle Sacco that is also targeting members who may want to increase their production but lack capital,” said Mr Wainaina.

“Any farmer who secures a loan from this sacco gets the interest cost paid up by the Jungle Foundation. This is an incentive to our farmers to do even better,” added the CEO.