Lincang, Yunnan Province —The same misty hills, the same steep terrain, the same green canopy stretching in neat rows across the slopes. Without a map or a marker, one might not be able to tell if they are in the macadamia orchards of Lincang or those in Zimbabwe’s Honde Valley.

Beneath the surface, the two regions tell parallel yet contrasting stories. In Yunnan, macadamia is a state-backed campaign, disciplined and highly organized. In Zimbabwe, it is a frontier crop, driven by individual pioneers chasing opportunity. Together, they represent opposite ends of the same chain, bound by a global hunger for macadamia. 

Bi Jiafu’s persistence turns mountains into wealth

The story of Bi Jiafu, a farmer from Yongde County in Lincang, encapsulates China’s macadamia journey. A “National Model Worker” and recipient of multiple honors, Bi’s path began in the early 1990s when he saw macadamia trees for the first time on a state farm.

Despite steep, barren slopes that defied machinery, he dug planting holes by hand. He wore out farming tools and shoes, collapsing with exhaustion at times, but never gave up. At first, he faced failure—trees that bloomed but bore no fruit, nuts that were small and thick-shelled. Determined, he sought advice, read agricultural manuals, and traveled to other provinces to learn grafting, cultivation, and processing techniques.

Through persistence and innovation, Bi not only turned his own farm into a success but also mobilized his neighbors. In Daxueshan Township alone, he helped expand planting to 150,000 mu (10,000 hectares). Countywide, the figure reached 600,000 mu. Families who once struggled now earn six-figure incomes in RMB, escaping poverty and building new homes.

By 2017, Bi’s children had returned from distant cities to help establish a processing factory and cooperative. Today, his macadamia enterprise is both a family legacy and a community anchor, greening barren hills and enriching households. His journey embodies China’s “poverty alleviation through industry” model—patient, collective, and state-supported, but also powered by personal sacrifice and grit.

Edward Maradza cultivates skills and grows an industry

Across the continent, Edward Maradza in Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands represents a very different macadamia story. While he has turned his four decades of macadamia production into a national asset by teaching others to grow the “local gold,” as he refers to macadamia, there is no clearly pronounced state support in the form of accessible loans. Instead, farmers have to navigate the often-tricky economic climate, secure financing, and brave risks that include drought and theft.

Like Bi in his early years, Maradza faced uncertainty and steep learning curves. But his driver was different—seeing an opportunity in the international price of macadamias and the chance to pivot from coffee to macadamia.

With markets in the US, India, and China, Zimbabwe’s macadamia boom is entrepreneurial at its core. Farmers like Maradza are pioneers, taking on the financial risks individually while relying on modest extension support and occasional training.

Two paths, one chain

Bi Jiafu’s story is one of collective uplift, rooted in state planning and patient institution-building. Edward Maradza’s is one of entrepreneurial daring, driven by self-belief and survival in a volatile economy.

While the Yunnan macadamia output is now feeding a high-value processing industry right there in the province, Maradza and his peers are more focused on the export of raw nuts with a fledgling range of products.

Yet these two paths converge. Zimbabwe’s raw nuts increasingly flow into China’s supply chain, feeding the same market Bi and his cooperative serve. Competitors and partners at once, they are bound together in a global macadamia economy.

This is where the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) becomes pivotal. China’s tariff-free access for partner countries opens the door to more than raw nut exports. Zimbabwean macadamia oil and processed snacks, branded for global shelves, could compete directly alongside Lincang’s premium “geographical indication” products.

That convergence is the logical endpoint of two very different green gold dreams—one nurtured in the collective fields of Yunnan, the other on the steep, privately financed slopes of Zimbabwe. Together, they symbolize how BRI should not be seen merely as a tale of statistics and summit photos, but as a bridge across continents, binding ordinary people, farmers, families, and futures in a shared global story.