Debbie Baxter, President of Passionfruit New Zealand
Debbie Baxter, President of Passionfruit New Zealand, shared how 2023’s greatest challenge for growers has been the weather, specifically too much rain and not enough sunshine hours.
“Passionfruit is a tropical fruit that hasn't thrived under these conditions,” said Baxter.
She continued that they had been lucky that none of Passionfruit New Zealand’s grower's orchards were affected by the extreme weather events earlier in the year. However, the transport and supply chain disruptions caused by road damage from the extreme weather impacted passionfruit distribution.
Coupled with the continual rise of input costs, these have been the most significant challenges for growers everywhere to overcome and manage.
Moving forward into 2024, these challenges will remain, with roading repairs scheduled following the heavy rains of 2023 likely to cause further stress for many growers in getting fruit to market.
Passionfruit growers' numbers have declined, as the practice is intensive, and some older growers have now retired. However, these numbers have declined as some growers have faced disease wreaking havoc in their orchards, causing some to leave the industry altogether.
“One of our challenges moving forward as an industry has been looking for solutions for the most prominent diseases. This has been ongoing for the past few years without much success to date. However, we continue to reassess and adapt strategies.”
As an industry, there have been continued discussions with marketers on improved ways to present fruit to consumers, with an alternative pricing model also being suggested.
Baxter explained that passionfruit is very hands-on with mostly manual processes. There hasn't been much technological advancement in this area.
“I'm sure many growers would welcome an advancement to assist with the time-consuming task of picking up the fruit.”
Passionfruit growers are tentatively watching for signs of an improved growing season for 2024 with Baxter adding that there was more space for growers to any interested in growing passionfruit.
See more insights from the 2024 Buyer's Guide below:
