June 14, 2019
Wairoa on track as harvest looms
A big day for Wairoa.
The millionth seedling on the Maungataniwha Mānuka Plantation was planted this morning.
The plantation is being established on 3500 hectares of cutover forest land 11 km south west of Lake Waikaremoana for honey production by Hawke's Bay company Profile Foods.
These trees were provided through the Mānuka seedling partnership between Te Uru Rākau and Mānuka Farming New Zealand.
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones are heading there after riding on the first section of the reopened Napier to Wairoa rail line.
Ikaroa Rawhiti MP Meka Wahitiri says it will be a big boost for the Wairoa district, and in behind the project is the wall of wood set to come out of northern Hawke's Bay and the East Coast.
"In Wairoa alone there’s about 150,000 tonnes of logs expected to be harvested this year and by about 2023 that’s expected to jump to 600,000 tonnes a year so that shows the extent of logs we are carting and using on the road to get to port, either to Napier or to Gisborne," she says.
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