New Zealand growers and scientists are working closely with their Indian counterparts to help grow the kiwifruit and apple industries, following on from the new trade deal between the two countries.
Steph Montgomery is leading the Bioeconomy Science Institute's collaborative Kiwifruit Action Plan in India, the first bilateral agricultural partnership project to be launched as part of a free trade agreement.
"It's a development project to help Indian industry develop their nascent green kiwifruit industry," she told RNZ.
She said while kiwifruit is native to the Himalayas and North India, and not an uncommon crop there, the industry is less developed and often involves terraced plantings.
The five-year project aims to develop sustainable kiwifruit production, quality and supply chain systems for Indian conditions, from nurseries through to endpoint consumers and getting that product to market.
"At the moment, the nursery industry is quite rudimentary," Montgomery said.
"So we're looking at implementing general good nursery hygiene practices and protocols and starting to increase their strike rates for their propagation so that we have good planting material coming out that's healthy."
The team would also be working on post-harvest processes, looking at how that fruit is collected and gets to market.
Montogomery said the partnership complimented New Zealand's growing season by increasing demand with year-round supply.
"We're a premium because we do grow some of the best fruit in the world - so it's coming in at the very highest bracket.
"The idea is that with India being the highest population in the world of 1.4 billion people and also the highest fruit consumers in the world, that more people would be able to enjoy kiwifruit throughout the different demographics of society."
It would also provide opportunities to better understand how kiwifruit grow in different conditions, particularly amidst a changing climate.
As part of the project, new centres of excellence will be established - essentially research farms for kiwifruit growing.
"We're working with four different states in the north and northeast of India and so we'll have one research farm in each state. We'll look to start two this year and then two in the following years once we have these ones established," Montgomery explained.
"So our scientists from both countries will exchange and spend time in each other's backyards, which is really complementary to building those skills and deepening those relationships. And also for farmers, which we can't wait to see some kiwi fruit farmers go to India and see kiwifruit grown like they've never thought of and vice versa."
In 2023/24, India produced about 18,280 tonnes of kiwifruit from 5390 hectares of orchard.
Adoption of best practice nursery, orchard management and postharvest protocols have the potential to increase Indian kiwifruit production by up to 10 times.
Apple grading in Hawke's Bay. Photo: Supplied
Hawke's Bay company Prevar develops and commercialises apple and pear cultivators - a joint venture owned by the BSI, New Zealand Apples and Pears and its Australian counterparts.
Chief executive Tony Martin said the free trade agreement provided increased market access for New Zealand produced apples and pears, including varieties developed by Prevar.
It also created opportunities for New Zealand to share some of its expertise to support the growth of India's apple industry.
He said the New Zealand pipfruit industry has been working with India's since the 1990s - the big difference being India's hasn't evolved as rapidly in terms of new production systems, improving volumes and storage life.
"There's absolutely opportunities to support the growth of the apple industry in India.
"Indian fruit is produced at a very different time of year to New Zealand fruit, so there's always going to be an export window for New Zealand produced fruit to get into the market.
"They have such a large consumer base New Zealand could not possibly think about reaching significant impact of Indian consumers with our production alone."
"New Zealand has around about 11,000 hectares of apples and pears planted across the country, which is probably roughly around 20 million trees. In India, they would have probably close to a billion trees, apple trees. So we're not a scale producer."
Apples and Pears chief executive Danielle Adsett said the industry had yet to finalise its Apple Action Plan but was positive about the opportunities it presented.
"We see collaboration and cooperation as quite important for long-term, long-standing relationships. We've been active in India supporting their apple growers since the early 1990s, so this isn't new to us."
In the meantime, the deal has also improved access for New Zealand exporters with tariffs dropped from 50 per cent to 25 per cent on specified volumes.
"This is all about business confidence, confidence to invest, returns back to growers, and opportunity into the future as the Indian market grows and changes," Adsett said.
-RNZ