6 | Ngati Porou Group REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT T TRichard Loader Manuka honey sweet business for iwi Ngati Porou has had direct involvement in the honey industry for over a decade. Operated through its commercial arm of Nāti Growth, Ngati Porou iwi currently employs twelve staff and a support team, looking after 3000 hives along the East Coast, spread over 100 separate apiary sites. Those 3000 hives can create 60 tonnes of honey a year — and can be as high as 80 tonnes depending on the season. “It’s a great example of an authentic indigenous business model, while despite the Australians using the manuka brand, we’re creating a product that is not only indigenous to New Zealand, but also to the lands of our iwi, owned and operated by our people, while being sold across New Zealand and other parts of the world,’ says Nāti Growth’s CEO Henare Walker. “The operation provides those benefits and returns back to our community.” Ngati Porou has had direct involvement in the honey industry for over a decade, initially just as a land owner, then transitioning into hive ownership in 2015. “Through this period, we recognised the commercial value of manuka honey, but at the time the reality was that over eighty percent of the hives collecting manuka honey on the East Coast were moved in from outside of the region. So, in 2020 we established our own apiary business on the Coast, two to three hours north of Gisborne, providing permanent employment in our communities.” Throughout the year the beekeepers manage the bee population and hive health, and come harvest time place the hives on key sites. “It is all about managing and timing the flowering of the manuka, and capturing as much of that period as we can. The hives are then taken to third party extraction and T Tto page 8 Your authorized dealer for Kinghitter Post-rammers, Bobcat Ag, Fischer Mowers, Trimax Mulchers & Polaris Off Road Vehicles www.advancetech.shop | 021 311 067 AUTHORISED SALES & SERVICE CENTRE
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