An avocado grower in the Central Highlands of Papua New Guinea has again seen a harvest from trees he planted back in 2022. He is keen to further propagate this avocado variety in his nursery and plant it on a large scale so it can give a year-round production.
Solepa Aganisafa from Goroka in Eastern Highlands Province has been monitoring his avocado orchard closely since 2022 and is excited by his find. He picked the avocados in February, June, and December from the same tree.
© Solepa Aganisafa
Solepa Aganisafa first embarked on the avocado journey in 2021 and established his orchard of 200-plus avocado trees in 2022. His orchard has Hass, Reed, Fuerte, and Pinkerton avocado varieties. He uses the Reed avocado variety as rootstock because of the larger size of the seed.
Solepa is not 100% sure about this avocado variety but thinks it may be Sharwil as they are ready to harvest in November. Also, according to the history books, avocados were introduced into Papua New Guinea from Australia by early Seventh Day Adventist missionaries near Goroka in the 1950s. He said these avocados have pebbly skin, creamy pulp, and a small seed.
© Solepa Aganisafa
Solepa said there is demand for locally grown avocados in the coastal urban towns, but there is no consistency in volume and quality. Further, no one knows the varieties of avocados growing in their backyard. He also acknowledged that avocado farming in the tropics can be trying, and one of the challenges would be to manage multiple fruiting.
As the President of the Eastern Highlands Agricultural Society, Solepa is currently working closely with the Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL), the National Agricultural Quarantine and Inspection Authority (NAQIA), the National Agricultural Research (NARI), and other stakeholders to source cleaned planting materials from an accredited nursery in New Zealand.
For more information:
Solepa Aganisafa
[email protected]