Background to the New Zealand Avocados Go Global programme
New Zealand Avocados Go Global’s vision was for an avocado industry that is transformed, integrated, globally competitive, high value, and sustainable. It aimed to equip the industry with tools to triple productivity to 12 tonnes per hectare and quadruple industry returns to NZD$280 million per annum by 2023.
New Zealand Avocados Go Global was an 8 and a half year programme between:
- the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI)
- NZ Avocado Industry Ltd.
Find out more about the New Zealand Avocados Go Global programme
Evaluation of the New Zealand Avocados Go Global programme
As part of its monitoring process for PGP programmes, MPI commissioned an independent evaluation. This looked at:
- outcomes and benefits
- programme execution
- lessons learnt.
What the evaluation found
- The New Zealand Avocados Go Global programme has been a catalyst to help grow the New Zealand avocado industry, making it more globally competitive, high value, and sustainable. This has been achieved by enabling information-sharing across the industry, developing new markets in Asia, and supporting improvements in tree health and orchard management.
- The industry operates in a much more integrated way than it did before the programme got underway.
- The programme met or exceeded its financial targets.
- The programme succeeded in improving yields and fruit supply, achieving its overall objective of "productivity tripled to 12 tonnes per hectare".
- The industry moved away from reliance on a single export market (Australia) to one with diverse markets, including significant expansion into Asian markets.
- The development of industry-wide digital solutions and sharing of industry best practice led to improved supply chain efficiency.
- New Zealand Avocado has become a stronger organisation, with good representation from across the industry, and has delivered significant value for the industry through its leadership of the PGP programme.
The New Zealand Avocados Go Global evaluation report [PDF, 951 KB]
New Zealand Avocados Go Global lessons
The lessons learnt include the importance of:
- strong governance
- skilled and experienced programme management
- having the flexibility and agility to change priorities to meet changing opportunities and threats
- identifying the right skillsets and making them available early in the programme
- establishing an objectives and outcomes framework that will serve the programme throughout its life.
New Zealand Avocados Go Global recommendations
The industry must continue to invest to consolidate the gains. While the priorities and mix of investment will continue to change, the programme should continue working on the key areas of focus it has set, such as:
- promoting the differentiated New Zealand avocado story in key markets rather than spreading effort too thinly across lower-volume markets
- continuing to identify and promote best practices in cultivation and orchard management, fruit handling, and throughout the supply chain, to ensure the best quality fruit is reaching the consumer in all markets
- undertaking further research in breeding and growing conditions to develop fruit that is resilient and sustainable in the New Zealand environment and during shipping to remote markets
- continuing to enhance the information systems and digital tools that are needed by growers, packhouses, exporters, shippers, and regulators to facilitate continued market access and assure the quality and value of New Zealand avocados.
