Manuka farming will add value to marginal land 
Mānuka Research Partnership Limited (MRPL), has its sights on increasing the supply of highly sought after medical-grade mānuka honey to significantly lift the value of the industry.
High performance mānuka seedlings will become available for planting on marginal land in 2017and enable economically viable honey production as early as 2020.
MRPL wants to lift the value of New Zealand’s mānuka honey industry from an estimated $242 million last year towards a target of $1.2 billion annually by 2028.
Mānuka Farming New Zealand has been launched to provide a full package of services to landowners interested in establishing a mānuka plantation to diversify their businesses and at the same time protect erosion prone land.
The partners in the programme are D and C Tweeddale, Nukuhau Carbon Ltd, Te Tumu Paeroa, The New Māori Trustee, Hawkes Bay Regional Council, Landcorp Ltd, Arborex Industries Ltd and Comvita New Zealand Ltd.
Mānuka Farming NZ is offering mānuka cultivars that have been extensively field tested and matched to individual sites. Over 1000 ha of trial sites throughout New Zealand have been testing a range of mānuka varieties, with 400 ha being more closely monitored to gather knowledge of the plants’ performance in different environments. This includes establishment, growth, nectar production and quality, floral traits and apiary performance.
Mānuka plantations will be promoted at the Central District Field Days in Fielding on March 17-19 and the National Fieldays at Mystery Creek on June 15-18. The company has also launched a website, www.manukafarmingnz.co.nz .
Landowners interested in establishing mānuka plantations to help address erosion issues are able to apply for funding through the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Afforestation Grant Scheme (AGS). Applications open in April 2016 for planting in winter 2017.
MRPL chairman Neil Walker said back country land provides the ideal conditions for growing mānuka. “There is a lot of steep and fairly inaccessible land out there that, if used for plantation mānuka, could prevent slips and erosion. The poorer producing parts of a hill country farm can actually cost money to farm, and we can change that."
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