The Macadamia Journey: Seed to Eat

We have the first and only macadamia processing factory, NUTS Processors Uganda. As the pioneers in macadamia value chain in Uganda AMAFH Farms Limited guarantees the macadamias farmers of a ready market for their nuts as and when they are harvesting. The farm harvested macadamias are de-husked to strip the husk away. The in-shell macadamia nuts called nuts-in-shells are separated from the husks before taking them into the main processing factory where they pass through our strict quality checks, the same way as for all nuts-in-shells received in the factory. The factory also buys macadamia nuts from the out growers who are already harvesting from their orchards. At our collection centres, we have staff who visit farmers to advise on post-harvest handling of macadamias as well as to buy the harvested crop soon after harvesting and de-husking.

The in-shell nuts are dried in the factory with forced air and controlled temperatures to remove the excess moisture while preserving the quality of the nuts. The lower moisture helps later in the subsequent processing stages. Macadamia processing uses special equipment to crack the nuts out of the shells. The kernels are sorted to remove dust, dirt, any remaining bits of husk, or nuts that are substandard. The shells are conveyed out of the processing room. The kernels are conveyed to different stations for packaging or secondary processing. Bulk raw kernels are packed directly into foil bags and gas flashed with carbon dioxide or oxygen before sealing and packing into cartons. Macadamia kernels for secondary processing and retail packaging are separated and then roasting, salting and/ flavouring and final packaging is done on a special section.