Going nuts over nangai......adding value to local crops is the way to go......

摘要

It is of little exaggeration that leading Port Vila spice exporter, Charles Long Wah, is going nuts over nangai nuts. Indeed, the businessman believes the nuts, otherwise known as canarium indicum, is the most lucrative crop in Vanuatu. As it is, Wahsays suppliers like him can't even meet local demand and supplies have to be boosted dramatically if they have to satisfy overseas markets as well."At the moment, we supply hotels, restaurants, shops and we cannot satisfy them all. The local market outstrips what we can supply," says Wah. Spending over a quarter of his life on studying the nuts, figures fall off Wall's mouth easily. Fully exploited, the man believes the nuts can employ up to 100,000 people, that's just about half of Vanuatu's population! Locals currently supply 160 tonnes of nangai nuts each year, which is a mere five percent of all nangai nuts available in the country. Since nangai trees grow wild in Vanuatu (as well as in the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea) and due to poor harvesting techniques, Wah says half-a-million tonnes go to waste every year. With prices hovering at around AUS 5000 dollar a tonne, that's a whooping AUS 2.5 dollar billion litter!