Tairāwhiti growers in New Zealand are preparing for further weather disruption as Cyclone Vaianu approaches, adding to existing challenges related to fuel costs and road access.
Ngāi Tukairangi Trust chair Ratahi Cross said the season had started positively following the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle, but the approaching storm is creating uncertainty. "We had a reasonably good season last year, and we're looking forward to a good season this year. But the possible advent of Cyclone Vaianu coming across Gisborne has put a little bit of a damper on us."
Growers are monitoring forecasts closely as the region moves through the production cycle. Cross indicated that kiwifruit is midway through the season, apples are about two-thirds complete, and persimmon harvesting is about to begin. "Personally, our particular business is responsible for about 75 per cent of the export of persimmons in the country out of Gisborne, and that's a big fear," he said.
Infrastructure constraints remain a concern, with road repairs ongoing. Cross noted that disruptions to key transport routes are increasing logistics pressure. "Transport, if we're having to reroute our product away from the Waioweka Gorge, State Highway 2 north and State Highway 35, and head south of State Highway 2 there and get our stuff into Hawke's Bay, that's a three-and-a-half-hour drive for transport. Getting our stuff from there to the Bay of Plenty, where we get most of our full packing done, that's a seven-hour drive. That's just doubled the transport distance. So, of course, it's going to double our fuel costs."
Fuel costs are also affecting on-orchard operations, including machinery movement during harvesting. "At the same time, when you're intermittently picking, you're moving heavy equipment, your tractors across the orchards at several times of the day, when you really want to be picking constantly, you just want to be out there getting the stuff off, getting into the box and getting it away to a packhouse."
Growers are attempting to move fruit ahead of the storm to limit exposure. "That's the nature of farming. I'm a farmer as well on the East Coast. You've just got to look at the skies and sometimes pray for the best," Cross said.
The combination of weather risk, infrastructure constraints, and higher input costs is affecting production and logistics across the region.
Source: RNZ
