Listen Now: 
The Maori Trustee Te Tumu Paeroa wants to turn more of the land it manages in the Bay of Plenty and East Coast into kiwifruit.
Chief executive Jamie Tuuta says that’s the thinking behind an almost $2 million investment in Opotiki Packing and Coolstorage Ltd (OPAC).
He says as well as meeting Te Tumu Paeroa’s internal investment criteria, the 10.1 percent stake will give his organisation deeper insight and reach into the industry.
Te Tumu Paeroa already administers several kiwifruit orchards in the eastern Bay of Plenty.
“We’ve identified there is a huge opportunity to take a lot of other land in that OPAC catchment into kiwifruit as well,” Mr Tuuta says.
As well as packing kiwifruit, OPAC offers orchard management services and also does joint ventures, including with some of the Maori landowners in the region.
“It’s about our objective of moving beyond the orchard gate or farm gate and recognising if we are to achieve out strategy with owners, it is going to require us to partner with the likes of OPAC and other entities.”
Mr Tuura says his staff discussed the investment with the Whakatohea Maori Trust Board and other significant Maori landowners in the region.
“They see an opportunity in the future to also invest in OPAC and we would welcome that opportunity whereby they could potentially purchase some of the interest we are holding when they are ready,” he says.
Copyright © 2015, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com
RELATED NEWS
