Tonga’s melon trade to New Zealand was halted a fortnight ago when fruit fly larvae were found in exported melons during NZ bio-security checks.
Now, Minoru Nishi of Nishi Trading said the sector is hoping to be back in business as soon as possible. He said they have just unloaded 100 tonnes of watermelon meant for export on the domestic market in Tonga with another 400 tonnes likely in the next week.
"To ensure that these things don't happen again. But it's having cool heads around the table and people in the right frame of mind, the right passion and commitment," Nishi told rnz.co.nz.
"You know, we are serious about this, we want to be in it for the X amount of years, we are in it for sustainability reasons. We see the opportunity growing for us, especially with the suspension of the pathway from Australia [to New Zealand]. It's the perfect time for us here in Tonga to take on that opportunity.”
