27 May 2012

Pawpaw exports from Cooks depend on plant approval

2:48 pm on 27 May 2012

An inspector from the New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is scheduled to assess the Cook Islands' heat treatment plant at the end of this month.

The Cook Islands' planned pawpaw export arrangement hinges on whether the inspector approving the plant.

The plant has been inactive since the country ceased exporting pawpaw a few years ago.

Agriculture secretary, Anthony Brown, says the ministry drew up an operations manual to govern use of the plant, which the New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry approved last month.

The local ministry aimed to send fruit from 20,000 trees overseas earlier this year, but they first had to await clearance from its partner agency in New Zealand.

Mr Brown is confident that a market exists in New Zealand for Cook Islands paw paw.