Avocado raiders strike Gisborne for first time

Gisborne is the latest district to be hit by avocado raiders stripping the pricey fruit to sell on the black market.

About 1.5 tonnes of export Hass avocados - three large bin loads - were removed one night last week, prompting suspicion that a team of people and a large vehicle were involved.

The problem is an annual one in the Bay of Plenty but an industry spokesman in Poverty Bay, Russell Gregg of Deltapac, said Gisborne had not experienced such thefts on a major scale before.

Most of the district's two dozen or so avocado growers had small plantations behind other orchards and only two were close to the road.

"We hope this was a one-off," he said yesterday.

The stolen fruit were quite a good size but immature, rock hard and unlikely to ripen properly. Police were still investigating and wanted to hear from anyone who had been offered cheap, unripe avocados. Prices for the sought-after fruit in Auckland, where they are in short supply, have been reaching $5 or more per fruit.

Hugh Moore, who chairs both the Avocado Industry Council and the Avocado Growers Association, said the seasonal thefts did not seem to be subsiding. It was hard to estimate the extent of the plundering because some growers, apart from reporting incidents to the police, kept quiet so as not to draw attention to themselves.

Others did not realise fruit was missing from some trees until they started picking.

In past years, avocados worth tens of thousands of dollars have been taken in the Western Bay of Plenty, home to about 60 per cent of the industry's 1200 New Zealand growers.

Mr Moore said it was thought most of the booty went to the Auckland area for sale on stalls, at markets and by a few small "opportunist" fruiterers.

There had been no reports in the Tauranga area so far this year of orchards being ripped off, probably because "there is not a lot of mature fruit on the trees at the moment."

Some people just "wandered round" orchards, possibly sussing them out, he said.

Three years ago, some Katikati and Athenree orchardists formed vigilante groups to keep overnight watch on their properties after losing a total of more than $90,000 worth of crops in organised raids. The targeted orchards, many owned by absentee landowners, were widespread and easily accessible.

Mr Moore said growers had since tightened security, installing motion detector beams, fencing off orchards and locking gates to safeguard their livelihood.

Neighbours should be vigilant and report suspicious activity or strange cars to the police.

Avocado information

* The avocado is an almost complete food, containing all the major food groups, 11 vitamins and 8 minerals.
* The fruit originated in tropical America and was used extensively by the Indians.
* Of the 500 varieties, Hass is the most popular commercially, grown around the world.
* The first commercial planting of avocados in New Zealand was in Gisborne in the 1930s.
Source: HortResearch