New Zealand Apples and Pears is very grateful to Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for conducting a new report into the needs of the Hawke’s Bay horticultural sector a year after Cyclone Gabrielle.
The report found that at least $410 million in additional funding was required to recover the wider Horticulture sector to its pre-cyclone state by 2030.
This pro bono work and the support of BCG, at a time when horticulture is facing a multitude of challenges, is invaluable.
BCG’s report, Hawke’s Bay Horticultural Sector: Economic recovery update: a year after Cyclone Gabrielle, found that while the short-term, critical response to the cyclone was a success, thanks to a timely, joint response between the public and private sectors, at least $345 million more was needed for replanting and reinstatement and $65 million more was needed for on-orchard clean up.
NZAPI has already used this report and the resulting information in our ongoing advocacy work for the sector and have shared the report with multiple ministries as well as Minister Nicola Griggs who has recently returned from maternity leave. She read the report with interest.
The report was valuable as it confirms that growers in Hawke’s Bay continue to struggle in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle. We know that the cyclone hit at a time when the industry was already facing pressure on profitability due to inflation, and replanting orchard blocks requires significant time and money.
We also know that growers are critical to the Hawke’s Bay community. They are deeply enmeshed, with their lives and families here, however for them to reestablish what was lost, they must be provided the right environment to work within and currently, this is not the case.
The full report can be found here:
