agriculture review
by aditya abhishek
Golden Kiwi is a unique crossbreed developed that is sweeter & softer than the normal kiwi. However, they are smaller than the green kiwi.
Although, golden kiwis are smaller. but they cost almost as twice much as green kiwi in the market. Due to its high price once it was smuggled & sold for 60,000 New Zealand dollar.
Not everyone can cultivate golden kiwi. Only those who have permission from its copyright holder "Zespri" can legally cultivate and sell golden kiwi.
If you cultivate golden kiwi without permission, then you can be sued to pay up to 14 Million New Zealand dollars like one international smuggler was.
Apart from these factors, the high cost of golden kiwi is hidden in the cultivation process. The kin of golden kiwi is thin & hairless, unlike green kiwi.
Due to thin skin covering, they can be damaged easily. Therefore harvesting golden kiwi requires skills & management. Hence labour cost increases.
Moreover, before harvesting golden kiwi certain criteria has to be checked. Taste, colour, seeds number, seeds colour, etc. are checked to maintain the quality.
In 2010, a disease outbreak nearly wiped out 90% of the kiwi industry in New Zealand. At this time Zespri developed a new kiwi variety "Sun Gold" by crossing two yellow kiwi.
This newly developed SunGold variety by Zespri helped New Zealand to rebuild its Kiwi industry as they were also disease resistant.
At present, the SunGold variety of kiwi developed by Zespri makes up 67% of the total kiwi export value of New Zealand which is around $1.9 Billion.
thanks for reading!