The feijoa is mainly grown in New Zealand's Gisborne and Hawke's Bay, with significant plantings in Waikato and Manawatu. Additionally, there are producers in Nelson/Marlborough. Northland used to be a producer but guava moth grubs and an aggressive anthracnose fungus have resulted in the Feijoa growers changing crops.
"We have had the challenges of Covid and its impacts on logistics, the airfreight industry has never recovered in terms of price and reliability and the volumes of exported feijoas has dropped dramatically," explains feijoa grower Roger Matthews. "We have also had a range of weather challenges, fruit drop and dramatic rain storms."
Plantings of feijoa are responsibly stable around 200-250 Ha with some areas falling and others growing. The reason for this are the pests and disease mentioned above, and there are orchards which have been destroyed by floods that have not been replanted in their original location.
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Harvest timing
"The start of the harvest depends on the part of the country and if you irrigate or not. In general, the harvest starts early to mid-March through to the end of May. In my orchard the season finishes with the start of frosts - so weather dependent. Frosts cause cosmetic changes to the fruit skins.
"Last season was late due to a drought summer. This year has been more normal. However, some orchards have been badly hit by storms since Easter. Gisborne and Hawke's Bay have largely finished picking for the year. The fruit is good this season, I have a large crop of large fruit in my orchard."
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Demand, domestic and export
"In tight economic times demand falls as feijoas are seen as a luxury purchase. Last year prices were low at the start of the season but increased substantially at the end of April and early May. We had a growing airfreight export to Australia and a bit to Singapore, Hong Kong and USA., but the cost and unreliability of airfreight has largely killed this."
For more information:
Roger Matthews
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +64 21 633 831
