Northland Iwi Te Uri o Hau opened the very first phase of its avocado orchard last week. The company hopes to capitalize on an industry worth around $30,000 a year for the New Zealand economy. The orchard can be found just one minute’s drive of Te Kopuru on the Pouto Peninsula in the western coast of Northland covering 27 acres. Already, the staff has planted 1,400 trees. There are the possibility of planting more than 3,500 during the initial stages of planting.

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Te Uri O Hau board member Anthony Thompson says the orchard is part of a larger plan to lure tribal members to come back “Our Te Uri O Hau hapu is returning in the Kaipara and making sure that we’ve had employment opportunities, this is about boosting the level of equity for our community. The project is very important as it is the culmination of all the projects which have preceded it. Our farms, our forestry as well as our nursery and finally, our botanical area, which is also called our avocado orchard.”

Source: teaonews.co.nz