Episode 19: Kiwi As
Local resident Paul O'Brien talks to people training to join the kiwifruit industry at Te Kaha. Photo by Dan Henry.
Gold Zespri kiwifruit ripen on the vine at Te Kaha. Photo by Dan Henry.
Originally screened on 19 June at 7pm on TV ONE.
Kiwi As
Watch this episode now at TVNZ Ondemand.
The Eastland region of Te Kaha has struck gold with a new crop that's bringing employment and economic growth to the area. The old crops of maize and squash are giving way to kiwifruit, and it's proving a huge success.
Driving east from Whakatane, the coastal scenes are the stuff of picture postcards and classic kiwi summers - but despite the beauty, average incomes in the area have been low, with few employment opportunities.
The local population is 80% Maori, and much of the land is Maori-owned. Te Whanau A Apanui iwi were looking for a sustainable future for both land and people when the proposal to plant kiwifruit came along.
Many landowners were initially wary, having been stung on previous deals. Rongo Puha recalls one contract involving family land. "Our block was leased out to citrus growers and was giving us $250 a year. It wasn't a good deal at all!"
So when Ian Craig from OPAC - the nearby Opotiki Packing and Coolstores - came calling, Rongo took a leap of faith. "Ian and his investors approached us and put the proposal in front of us and our thinking was simply that as long as we retained the land, this has got to be a good deal - better than what we had before."
Te Kaha-born Hoani Kerei now manages several kiwifruit orchards, as well as owning family land. When he first heard about the proposal, he remembers thinking, "Hell, that's a lot of money - we'd be fools to let this go."
Ian Craig knew Te Kaha was perfect for kiwifruit. "We'd been growing squash in this part of the world for some time so we knew what the land was capable of. It was already sheltered so that was huge advantage."
With help from the Maori Trustee in Rotorua, a 50-50 joint venture was set up. Rongo and others like him put up their land and some cash and OPAC raised the capital to establish the orchards. That first joint venture took off and 10 years later Te Kaha has 130 hectares of kiwifruit.
Rongo's whanau's orchard has developed into the third most productive in the country. "We're rapt," he says. "We've gone from $250 a year with the citrus, to something like half a million dollars profit on this orchard."
Others in the region are benefitting too. Haki McRoberts
used to work in forestry but returned to Te Kaha two years ago to
start a contracting business. "I started with two tractors,
and now I've got five. I have four guys working for me
fulltime. And last year was my first year in it, that's how
fast it's grown."
Haki trains his employees himself and they're all
locals. "Before they were just looking for something to do,
and getting into trouble, and now they're happy."
Another Te Kaha resident, Paul O'Brien, has also seen the potential employment opportunities for the youth of the region.
When kiwifruit was planted 10 years ago, the labour came from outside the region. Any locals who wanted job training had to travel to Whakatane - and the time and expense meant it wasn't an option for most.
But Paul convinced Bay of Plenty Polytech to bring the classes to the students in Te Kaha. "A lot of young people around here have fallen through the cracks. This has given them the opportunity to step up, he says. "We want those tasks to be done by our people on their own land."
More information
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Zespri
-
Opotiki
Packing and Coolstorage Ltd
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Te Kaha Homestead Lodge
-
Bay of Plenty Polytech horticulture training
(PDF)
