Ngali Nut Farmers in the Solomon Islands

Baniata Farmers

Located in the rural village of Baniata, on the coast of Rendova in the Western Province, Solomon Islands, are the farmers known for being the main source for this highly nutritious indigenous nut known commonly to the Solomon Natives as ngali nut.

The Baniata ngali nut farmers are the first in the Solomon Islands to get organic certified for their supply of ngali nut. The exporter of ngali nut for Solomon Islands look to the Baniata community as a main source to supply them with ngali nut for export to the niche market overseas.

Overseas buyers have a high demand for organic certified ngali nut from the Solomon Islands, making the ngali nut farmers or growers in the Baniata Community perfect for exporters to order their supplies from.

Ngali Nut Processing

The process starts from the ngali nut trees in the forests of the Baniata community to the exporter (SolAgro), then finally to the overseas shelves in cafes and supermarkets.

It starts off with the members of the Baniata community; men, children and mostly women, scouring the forest floors under the ngali nut trees for fallen ngali nuts. Collecting them one by one and filling up basket after basket of these raw nuts. After they are picked, the nuts are then dried and cracked open.

Following the cracking of the nuts, the testa is removed and the nuts are baked in hot stone ovens before being stored and packaged ready for purchase by SolAgro.

SolAgro purchases raw nuts and then either package them as they are for resell, or they manufacture products such as ngali nut butter, ngali nut bars, etc. in their factory.