$242,000 to Tairāwhiti Community Group for Erosion Control
A Tairāwhiti group looking to optimise the sustainable growth and harvest of Kānuka is set to receive up to $242,000
from the Ministry for Primary Industries for its erosion control benefits.
Hikurangi Bioactives Limited Partnership, a majority community-owned charitable company, is looking to identify optimal
growing and sustainable harvesting techniques for bioactive extracts from existing mature Kānuka strands grown in and
around Ruatoria.
The funding comes from MPI’s Erosion Control Funding Programme (ECFP) community grant which helps East Coast landowners,
community groups, iwi, organisations and businesses with innovative ideas, to help reduce erosion in the Tairāwhiti
region.
“Hikurangi Bioactives wants to optimise the use of mature Kānuka which is already growing on about 30 per cent of land
in the Ruatoria district. The group has been researching new techniques and emerging markets for bioactive extracts from
Kānuka for use in health and beauty products for some time,” says Ben Dalton, Deputy Director-General, Sector
Partnerships and Programmes.”If successful, the long-term potential for a bioactives industry on the East Coast could be
huge and the whole region will benefit from a new, high value industry that creates jobs.
“At the same time Kānuka has significant environmental and erosion control benefits and keeping it in the ground will
help retain existing land cover, particularly on steep and erosion prone land. Gisborne has the worst eroding land in
New Zealand due to its geology, steep terrain and increasing adverse weather events,” Mr Dalton said.
“We’ll be working with plant scientists and local landowners to research a wide range of areas, including plant
genetics, optimal planting and growing conditions and locations, best harvest times and techniques and the use of
technologies to promote plant health and good regrowth,” says Manu Caddie from Hikurangi Bioactives.
“Providing jobs and education opportunities is also a large component of our ongoing work. Through this project we’re
looking to raise awareness about the opportunities for Kānuka and to give locals a real appreciation of job potential in
the sciences - particularly in biology, chemistry and genetics.”
Since 1992, when the Erosion Control Funding Programme opened, $49 million has been spent on erosion control in
Tairāwhiti, with 42 000 hectares of land being treated to date. Twenty-six per cent of land in Tairāwhiti is susceptible
to severe erosion, compared to eight per cent of land for the rest of the country.
MPI works closely with Gisborne District Council and Te Runanganui o Ngāti Porou on a number of erosion related
initiatives. The three organisations have a joint team of people based in Gisborne and Ruatoria, available to support
landowners and community groups through the application process.
END