Some of the staff of Māori Kiwifruit Growers underneath some of their kiwifruit vines. Photo: supplied / Māori Kiwifruit Growers
*The headline of this story has been updated to correct the amount of funding received.
Māori Kiwifruit Growers have received nearly $1 million in government funding to help increase their exports of the lucrative fruit.
The advocacy group with 42 members, mostly in Bay of Plenty, will receive $975,000 from the Ministry for Primary Industries' Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures Fund over the next three years, topped up with a co-investment of $987,523.
The project aims to increase the value of export earnings for growers, while re-affirming Aotearoa's connections with indigenous peoples around the world.
It will build on a pilot collaboration with the country's main exporter Zespri, which saw the partnership send three containers of Zespri-branded green and gold kiwifruit to Hawaii last year.
It was a first for the advocacy group, which was formed in 2017.
Photo by Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Media Services Photo: supplied / Māori Kiwifruit Growers
Chairman Anaru Timutimu said it was sending 16 more containers there this year - and hopes to increase that amount, as the sole supplier of New Zealand kiwifruit there.
"Hawaii, there's cultural, there's whakapapa connections there, obviously with Māori, and that's our first thinking is around the Pacific Rim of us telling a different story of provenance and connection with communities across the Pacific," he said.
"It complements Zespri's brand and marketing as well."
He said the opportunities available for exporting Aotearoa-grown kiwifruit could lift up Māori growers.
"For our people, it gives them an opportunity to work in the space of exporting but also to be able to get our growers to travel overseas and see their product on the shelves of these international supermarkets.
"It's been a real exciting journey and the MPI funding adds fuel to the rocketship because there's a whole bunch of different costs obviously being a start-up exporter, so we're really appreciative."
Timutimu said his group would continue marketing alongside Zespri beyond Hawaii, as it looked to new markets.
"If there's opportunity there where there's an indigenous link or some commonality or alignment with Māori values, anywhere in the world, for a targeted campaign we're keen to work with Zespri and others to make that happen.
"Our next market we're thinking about was Taiwan, which is a lot more substantial [than Hawaii]."
Māori Kiwifruit Growers staff with Zespri representatives in Italy pre-Covid-19 to learn the ways of European kiwifruit growing. Photo: supplied / Māori Kiwifruit Growers
He said Taiwan's ancestral links for Māori and Polynesians would make it a strong market to share their story.
The organisation would continue to "keep a tight ship" and establish new roles as they were needed to match the growth.
"We'll look to employ people - for what the marketing requires, logistics and exporting, but it's a pretty tight team. We'll grow as the volume of our exports grows."
A Zespri spokesperson said it was working with 15 other companies to export New Zealand-grown kiwifruit to a range of markets around the world.
"The programme is designed to help increase demand and reflects Zespri's commitment to support Māori grower aspirations and to build a more successful, resilient, connected, innovative and diverse industry for all growers."
The spokesperson said Zespri did not contribute to the programme's co-investment.
Photo: supplied / Māori Kiwifruit Growers
