A grower survey conducted by New Zealand Citrus Growers Incorporated has confirmed that Gisborne is the number one citrus growing region in the country — by a long way.
The NZCGI “snapshot” survey indicates there are 330 citrus growers in New Zealand with more than a million citrus trees and 1659 hectares in citrus crops.
The survey figures show 28,741 tonnes were produced nationally last season with a national average production of 18 tonnes per hectare.
Gisborne growers produced 56 percent of the fruit, with 34 percent from Northland, 9 percent from the Auckland district and 1 percent from the Bay of Plenty.
The production figures were based on a grower response in that area of the survey of 66 percent.
The survey detailed not just the total orchard area, types, planted areas and total yield, but also the number of people employed and details on the trees planted. This included such information as the year of planting, row spacing, tree spacing and future citrus plantings.
A breakdown of the Gisborne figures was also provided.
There are 343ha in navel oranges here, 159ha in Satsuma mandarins and 119ha in other orange varieties.
In total 845ha are planted in citrus in the Gisborne district.
The NZCGI survey indicated 16,171 tonnes of citrus were produced in Gisborne last season.
Source: gisborneherald.co.nz