Bay of Plenty avocado, kiwifruit growers counting cost of Cyclone Dovi's winds

Some avocado trees were uprooted in the storm, a grower says. File photo / 123RF

RNZ

The strong winds that lashed the country at the weekend have caused significant damage to some kiwifruit and avocado orchards in the Bay of Plenty.

Cyclone Dovi caused flooding, downed trees and cut power to homes.

Bay of Plenty orchardist Hugh Moore said some avocado trees were completely uprooted by the wind, while others had lost branches full of fruit.

He said both new season fruit and the last of this season's crop have been impacted.

Another orchardist in the area, Mark Hume, from Hume Pack-N-Cool, said it was a significant wind event.

"It was very forceful. It took out a lot of power; a lot of trees came down over power wires and stuff, and a lot of orchards got sort of pretty wrapped around, especially the young ones. Young gold kiwifruit orchards with poles up, all the poles have been knocked over.

"But that's horticulture, we'll get up and go again. It's not good, but that's life. If there's less kiwifruit hopefully the prices go up. That'll make up for the damage," Hume said.

Some young gold kiwifruit orchards have also been hit hard. File photo / RNZ - Alison Ballance

New Zealand Avocado chief executive Jen Scoular said the industry had already been facing a difficult season, with softer demand in some export markets leaving growers struggling to get break-even prices

Scoular said sadly the large volume of fruit that has fallen on the ground would not be salvageable, partly because of food safety but also because much of it would be bruised.

"I had one grower who thought they'd lost half of their crop which was ready to be harvested between now and April and other growers who have a lot of the new season fruit on the ground as well.

"So the wind just ripped around trees. We've certainly had big branches come off trees and smaller trees being ripped up, so real damage for avocado growers."

Scoular said New Zealand Avocado could provide technical advice to growers including things they could do to try and nurse wind-damaged trees back to health.

- RNZ