Based on its thirty years of experience in the cultivation, processing, and sale of strawberries, the Nicofruit group will, starting next autumn, become a reliable player in the production and marketing of yellow kiwi fruit.
Beginning in the first week of October 2024, the Top Gold yellow kiwi fruit, under the MATERA® brand, will be marketed in Italy. For now, it will be grown in the municipality of Pisticci (in the province of Matera), with the first 50 hectares invested.
O.P. Frutthera Growers, a company from Scanzano Jonico (Matera) and owner of the Nicofruit® brand and the increasingly well-known Fragola Matera® brand, has signed an agreement with Top Gold Srl, the exclusive licensee of the New Zealand yellow kiwi variety of the same name. This agreement aims to make O.P. Frutthera Growers the production reference in the Basilicata region.
Top Gold, already present in Piedmont and Lazio, directly manages the variety propagation. It also employs highly specialized companies for production, processing, and marketing, identifying the Nicofruit group as the ideal partner for expanding the cultivar to southern Italy.
"Since good things that are done properly take time, we have decided to share this news with operators only now, just a few weeks before the start of the harvest and the dispatch of the first pallets of kiwifruit to customers," says Francesco Nicodemo, president of O.P. Frutthera Growers. "If the strawberries of Basilicata are an Italian excellence, thanks to the Top Gold yellow kiwi fruit, the name of this region will soar even higher. We have, in fact, created Kiwy Matera to continue to express a strong and indissoluble bond with our land, Basilicata, which is proving to be specialized not only in strawberries but also in the production of these yellow jewels."
Demetrio Nicodemo in an actinidieto - current state of kiwi fruit growth.
Top Gold is a kiwi with completely yellow flesh, characterized by a taste reminiscent of exotic fruits such as mango and papaya, with an almost creamy texture. A slight lemon aftertaste softens the high sugar content (18-22°Brix), giving it a unique flavour. It is produced, selected, and packaged following a specific quality protocol and has been registered as "Top Gold Always Sweeter" since 2014.
There are currently about 130 hectares of Top Gold actinides cultivated in Italy, but the goal is to triple the area invested within the next five years, especially in the central and southern regions. "This is just the beginning of an ambitious project that, in time, aims to cover 250-300 hectares in Basilicata alone," says Naomi Nicodemo. "We have organized numerous visits to the plants already in production. We are already registering several expressions of interest among producers in the Ionian arc who are willing to plant this crop soon, becoming our suppliers and protagonists of a highly profitable crop diversification. The earliness of the variety allows us to make deliveries as early as the first week of October, continuing marketing until January/February, when we usually enter the peak of the strawberry season. The product will be packaged in Ilip's 500g 'Ezy Split' basket, made of 100% recycled and easily recyclable R-Pet plastic, which minimizes the footprint of the production process on the environment."
Naomi Nicodemo, membership office manager.
What also makes this variety attractive are the advantages in terms of agronomic management. In fact, a lower impact on labour is proven in the spring period: the flowering is compact, with excellent synchronization of male and female flowers. About 6 to 8 labour units/hectare are required for thinning.
The Top Gold-branded Kiwy MATERA® will reach the shelves of large-scale retail trade and fruit and vegetable markets, ready to conquer the palate of consumers at the perfect degree of ripeness. Hence the idea of coining the claim "From Basilicata, the blond kiwi that arrives ready," which highlights the particular yellow variety and immediately conveys to the consumer the idea of being able to eat the fruit in a short time.
"Our entrepreneurial history, from its foundation to the present day, has developed through a symbiotic relationship with the territory in which it was born and grew. The partnership established with Top Gold will fit into the path already traced by Fragola Matera and will further enrich it. We strongly believe in this product, so much so that we will enhance and promote it through a targeted communication campaign, curated by the agency Brand-Cross, already our partner for the launch of Fragola Matera," Francesco Nicodemo concludes.
For more information:
Massimo Pittaluga Top Gold Sales Office: +39 3357920387
Francesco Nicodemo O.P. Frutthera Growers Soc. Coop. Agr: +39 0835 954666
O.P. Frutthera Growers Soc. Coop. Agr.
Via Provinciale, 15
75020 Scanzano Jonico, MT
(+39) 0835 954666
[email protected]
nicofruit.it