Home » The kiwi of discord – Junko Terao

The kiwi of discord – Junko Terao

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In 2010 a disease known as “bacterial cancer of actinidia” began to affect kiwifruit plantations in New Zealand, the main producing country of the fruit along with China and Italy. A red liquid dripped from the branches of the plants, the flowers rot and the fruits wither: the disease destroyed the plantations, with damage of 900 million New Zealand dollars (540 million euros). Salvation came from a new variety of yellow-fleshed kiwifruit, called Sungold, present today in large quantities alongside green kiwifruit also in Italian supermarkets.

The Sungold kiwifruit is the result of a research funded by Zespri, the cooperative that brings together New Zealand kiwifruit producers, together with other public and private actors, to find an alternative: from 50 thousand different varieties, forty were selected, of which four arrived to experimentation in plantations. From the experimental phase came the Golden3, then marketed as Sungold, which in addition to having the organoleptic characteristics of a superior fruit, was resistant to the terrible bacterium. It was that variety, immediately patented by Zespri, that saved the New Zealand industry from catastrophe, which today produces more Sungold kiwifruit than green kiwifruit for export.

Fierce competition
Today Zespri grants the license to growers in other countries, including Italy, but in 2016 the company had heard rumors of unauthorized Sungold plantations in China. An investigation later confirmed the tip, and the cooperative waged a legal battle against Gao Haoyu, the grower who first brought some Sungold plants to China. Last September the New Zealand high court sentenced Gao on appeal to pay the equivalent of seven million euros, but now the damage is done: according to the company’s estimates, between 2019 and 2021 the land cultivated in Sungold is doubled, exceeding 5,400 hectares, which means that China will soon produce the equivalent of the amount of kiwifruit imported from New Zealand (in addition to being the largest kiwifruit producer in the world, China is also the main importer of kiwifruit from New Zealand).

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What to do then? Zespri is trying to find agreements with local governors and growers to include the abusive productions in its circuit, but the lack of laws regulating the use of biological and genetic resources in China essentially leaves a free hand for unlicensed producers.

This story is emblematic of the disparity in relations between the Asian giant and the small Pacific country, which has China as its main trading partner, with obvious political repercussions.

On several occasions in the last two years Wellington (which in 2017, like Italy in 2019, was one of the few allies of the United States to sign a memorandum of understanding with China on the Belt and road initiative, the New Way of silk) has distanced itself from Western countries by avoiding criticizing Beijing on the issue of human rights or by refusing to take sides in the competition between China and the United States. And the appointment of Wang Xiaolong, former director general of economic affairs at the Chinese foreign ministry, as Beijing’s new ambassador to New Zealand suggests that China is aiming to strengthen trade relations with Wellington.

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