Macadamias: Switching To Machine Harvesting

Harvesting macadamia nuts is highly labour-intensive, and Braam de Kock’s Lowveld farm is no exception. Tired of the stress of managing a large workforce, De Kock finally opted for mechanisation, and found the investment well worth it. Nonetheless, the process has had its challenges, he told Lindi Botha.

- Lindi Botha

FAST FACTS

Braam de Kock has reduced his labour force by 60% through mechanisation.

Machines are used to sweep up and collect the macadamia nuts.

Mechanisation involves constant adaptation to find the optimal approach for each farm.

Braam de Kock’s farm on the outskirts of Mbombela, Mpumalanga, is without the usual flurry of activity that is typical of a macadamia nut farm in May. Instead, plumes of dust collect above single rows as the mechanised harvest gets under way.

During the harvest season that takes place between March and August each year, many farmers are faced with sourcing and managing hundreds of casual labourers to collect nuts off the orchard floor. For De Kock, this meant 100 workers for his 200ha farm.

“The plan was always to mechanise as much as possible. As the macadamia trees matured, our yields increased, which meant we were employing more and more people each year.

“I prefer the workers to live on the farm, but I couldn’t accommodate all the people who were needed for the harvest. At one stage, we used a contractor to source and manage the labour, but we didn’t have control over the movement of people on the farm. There were many strangers coming and going all the time, and it was a security risk for us and the crop.

“But managing the workers ourselves was very time-consuming, as transport had to be arranged and coordinated. There were always people who came late, or a bus that had broken down or some other issue that caused frustration.”

All of this led De Kock to make the decision to mechanise four years ago and, in the process, he managed to cut his labour force by 60%.