Negotiations have started to get a papaya growing project under way in Tairāwhiti, for its leaf and fruit qualities. Kiwi-born Fuller Young International chief executive Raymond Young is pictured with crop growing in Japan.
Negotiations have started to get a papaya growing project under way in Tairāwhiti, for its leaf and fruit qualities. Kiwi-born Fuller Young International chief executive Raymond Young is pictured with crop growing in Japan.
Negotiations have begun with a local plant nursery to trial Gisborne’s first commercial Carica papaya crop, a tropical plant originating from Mexico that has growing potential here.
Papaya leaves and fruit have many health benefits and have traditionally been used to prepare medicinal formulations.
Scientific studies revealed considerable levels of bioactives, known for their anti-cancer, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties that work against toxins in the human system.
Queenstown-based company Fuller Young International, headed by Kiwi-born CEO Raymond Young, will supply the “Wakatengu” cultivar seed for the trial to be conducted at Manutuke by Tai Kupenga Ltd.
“The new trial in Gisborne gives more opportunity for substantive growth for a commercial crop to produce medical, nutraceutical and high-value food products,” said local project manager Trevor Mills.
“Wakatengu green papaya is a subtropical variety higher in bio-activity, particularly in the leaf.”
The Gisborne planting followed a three-year collaboration with a plant and food research trial in Kerikeri and ongoing papaya research in Japan and Malaysia, he said.
Young, speaking from his office in Tokyo, said he was confident that because of Gisborne’s micro-climate, a high UV light would result in maintaining the high levels of compounds in the papaya.
“The New Zealand-grown papaya leaf, and the Japanese crop of the same variety grown north of Tokyo, are complementary.
“There is little difference between the production of alkaloids and polyphenols, essential bioactives targeted for age and lifestyle-related illnesses, and mosquito-borne viruses,” Young said.
“The difference in seasons gives the company a tremendous advantage in the supply of raw materials for health products for wellness, functional supplements and pharmaceutical drugs, as each year’s crop is harvested six months apart.”
The leaves and fruit of the papaya plant provide health benefits and have been used traditionally for that purpose.
A formulated extract produced from Japan and New Zealand papaya leaf has been produced in Auckland and Malaysia in collaboration with NZ Food Innovation Network’s The FoodBowl and the University of Nottingham Science and Engineering Faculty.
“A clinical study is being undertaken to throw a light on the pharmaco-kinetics and pharmaco-dynamics of the company’s papaya leaf from New Zealand and Japan, in collaboration with the Malaysian University research teaching hospital,” Young said.
“The planned trial programme will commence with plants produced under cover from seed supplied by the company’s Japan office.
“They will be planted outside in Gisborne in late October, and the leaves will be harvested in May 2025.”
The papaya fruit, known as green papaya, gets harvested as a vegetable and used in cooking and salads in Japan and throughout Asia.
“Financial returns from supplying Wakatengu papaya leaf for extraction into medical and health products for export would be competitive with other high-yielding local crops, coupled with the green papaya fruit sold for the domestic New Zealand market as a source of healthy vegetable,” he said.
“Research from the Tokyo University of Agriculture has found that the male papaya variety fruit has 4.7 per cent higher papain enzyme than the female fruit - higher than any other known papaya variety.”
Papain enzyme is found in the white fluid (latex) that occurs in raw papaya fruit, and it breaks down proteins. It contains substances that help fight infection and heal wounds.
Tai Pukenga’s Trevor Mills said they were also confident this new crop had the potential to supplement their banana and pineapple projects being undertaken around Tairāwhiti.
