Our Story

Established by Māori, for Māori

To build and grow the Māori Kiwifruit business for current and future generations

In September 2016, a nationwide call was made from Māori kiwifruit growers to establish a national body to represent the views of all Māori kiwifruit growers as an entity created by Māori for Māori.

The hui was held at Maungatapu Marae in Tauranga Moana, with attendees comprising of kiwifruit growers and key industry players keen to support the kaupapa of supporting Māori development within the horticultural industry. At the hui, the attendees formed into separate groups and strategised their hopes of a forum representing Māori within the kiwifruit industry. Members were nominated, appointed, and tasked to collate key objectives from the hui. From there, a working collective was tasked to highlight key responses from the attendees to establish a Māori Kiwifruit Growers collective. 

By the following December, the Māori collective united at Te Kaha to formally implement the Incorporation Rules, nominations and votes by region to determine Executive Committee Representatives. From there, Māori Kiwifruit Growers Inc was established.

Our Values

Kotahitanga |  Te Iti, Te Rahi
Mana Whakahaere  | Influence, Leadership, Leverage, Decision Making
Whai Hua | Opportunities, Value, Better Decisions

This hui showed that Māori shared a collective understanding to

1. Achieve Leadership at all levels of the industry
2. Increase OGR and Production
3. Achieve more efficient access to information/better data of Māori profile within the industry

Executive Committee

The number of seats available on the Executive Committee for each region is based on production and is reviewed every two years.  Current representation based on the average of the top three performing years in the five years leading up to and including 2016 is as follows The Executive Committee nominated by each region are:

In February 2017, The Executive Committee created a Strategic Plan with Four Priorities 

1. To lead with information, communications, visibility, representation and advocacy
2. To provide services that support increased net returns to grower
3. To identify training and support provision
4. To focus on sustainability

In December 2017, the Executive Committee held their first Annual General Meeting to provide an update to Māori Growers on progress to date. MKGI have since used these priorities as a guide in the way they operate.