He aha tēnei hanga te hiranga

Ko te ahunga mai o te hua kiwi koura mō ngā kaipupuri whenua i Te Kaha

Ko te whai a Te Kaha Gold kia hohoro te whakangungu me te whai mahi mō ngā whānau kia taea ai e rātou te whakawhānui te pakihi hua kiwi. Kāore anō ngā tarahati ahu whenua e 6 o te Tairāwhiti kia titiro whakamuri ki te wā i kotahi ai rātou ki te whakatō i ngā kākano o te hua kiwi koura tuatahi ki runga i ō rātou whenua e 20 tau i muri nei.

2 people laughing together, standing in an orchard.

E ono ngā tarahati ahu whenua o Te Kaha Gold e whakatupu ana i ngā momo hua kiwi koura uru huarākau ki runga i ngā heketā e 80 ki Te Kaha me Ōmaio.

I tēnei wā tonu, kei te kimi tonu a Te Kaha Landowners Group (TKG) i te tautoko hei whakawhanake ake i tā rātou pakihi.

Hei te Kaiwhakahaere Matua o TKG, hei tā Piripi Jennings, “I a mātou e whakarite mahere ana i ēnei tau e rima, e whakapae ana au ka tupu mā te whakarea tekau. E hiahia ana mātou ki te whakapakari kia 100 heketā anō mō te hua kiwi whai painga ki konei ki Te Kaha.”

“Ka tāpiri ki ngā whanaketanga ki Ōmaio me Raukokore, huri i te tairāwhiti me Te Whānau a Apanui, ka puta nui atu i te whitu miriona pae huarākau. He nui noa atu tēnei ki te whakatū i tō mātou ake whare mahi me ētahi atu āheinga.”

Hei whakarite mō tēnei, kei te whāia e TKG ēnei mōhiohio:

te hanga whakarato wai ki ō rātou poraka whenua katoa, tae noa ki te 100 heketā e tūmanakohia ana, ā,
te hōtaka whakatere i te ako pūkenga, whakangungu, tūranga mahi hoki mō ō rātou tāngata.

Kia taea ēnei mahi te whai whai atu, i tono atu a TKG ki te pūtea i te Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) – he pūtea ki te āwhina ki te whakawhanake i te ohanga i roto i ngā rohe.

I te Haratua 2019 i whiwhi i a TKG te $370,000 kia kōkiri i ēnei mahi me te oati a te PGF ka hoatu ki te 13 miriona tāra kia whakatutukihia tēnei kaupapa.

“Ko te rangi te pae tawhiti”, i kī a Piripi Jennings.

Ko te whakatau uauatanga

Ko Haki McRoberts te tiamana o TKG. Nōhia ia te rohe o Te Kaha, engari ko ngā maumaharatanga o te whenua i a ia e taiohi ana he tino rerekē ki ngā uru huarākau whai painga e mahi ana ia i tēnei rā.

“Karekau he taiapa nā reira ka haere kau noa ngā kararehe mai i tētahi pātiki ki tētahi atu. Kī pai i te parakiperi, ā, ka haerea e te tangata ki te tua i ngā parakiperi me ngā tupu otaota.”

Ka kīia hoki e Haki ko te utu reti mō te whenua hua kore e taumaha ana i te tangata.

Haere te wā, kāore i utu reti i te tau. Engari ināianei i te mea kua huri ki te hua kiwi – tēnā, kei te utua e te whenua ngā reti, ā, kāore he raru,” e kī ana ia.

Ko te whakarauora i te whenua

E 20 tau i mua i tīmata ai te pakihi hua kiwi i te kaha whakawhere a ngā kaituku moni nō Ōpotiki i ngā kaipupuri whenua ka whakahoki atu ki a rātou ngā painga i te whakapakaritanga o ō rātou whenua hei uru huarākau hua kiwi.

E ai ki a Haki McRoberts, he kaiwhakahāwea rātou i runga i ngā oati i whati i roto i ngā tau. Ka huri i te kitenge atu he rangapū tinihanga kore. Ka puāwai ngā hua.

“I ia tau he whiwhinga 50/50. Ki te riro i a rātou (kaituku moni) te $100, ka $100 hoki mātou. Mehemea he nama $100 tā mātou, he $100 hoki tā rātou. Mārama kehokeho ana ngā mahi. Ka ako hoki mātou i ngā mōhiotanga ki te whakamahi i te whenua mō mātou,” i kī atu ia.

I tērā wā, ko ngā kaipupuri whenua, arā, ngā tarahati ahu whenua e ono, i mahi takitahi engari i kotahi rātou i roto i te whakaaro kia whai painga ō rātou whenua mō rātou anō ehara mā te huamoni anake, engari mā te whai tūranga mahi wā kī me te whakangungu tāngata. He āhua taratahi ngā hapori i te rohe, ā, mō ētahi whakatupuranga e hia kē nei, kāore ngā whānau i whai tūranga mahi wā kī.

Ka whānau mai tēnei rangapū a TKG i runga i te kotahitanga kia tupu ko te whenua, kia tupu hoki ko te whānau.

View of kiwifruit vines looking up from below.

Te kōkiri whakamua

Nā tētahi o ngā kaiwhakahaere uru huarākau, nā Ray Karauria i kī, i angitū ai te rōpū i te hiranga o te hautūtanga.

“Ki te ārahi tonu rātou i a mātou, ka ngāwari ake mā mātou ērā tūmanako te pīkau. Kātahi rā ā rātou mahi kia tae rawa mātou ki konei. Mā mātou tā rātou kaupapa e kōkiri ki te āpōpō,” i kī atu ia.

Ki tētahi atu kaiwhakahaere uru huarākau, ki a Royce Hou me tōna whānau, ko te hokinga ki te kāinga te ara whakamua.

He hiahia nōna kia mōhio āna tamariki nō hea rātou, ā rātou tikanga me tō rātou reo. I te tīmatanga he kaimahi hua kiwi kātahi a Royce ka haere ki te whare takiura o Waiariki ki te ako, ki te whakangungu i a ia hei kaiwhakahaere teina i te uru huarākau, ka mutu, hei kaiwhakahaere.

Ko te whakapakari whānau, he huringa oranga

“Tokomaha mātou i māharahara mō te hoki atu ki te kura i te mea kāore te nuinga o mātou i ako anō atu i te wehenga i te kura. He whakatupuranga pakeke mātou, engari i whakakotahi mātou hei rōpū ki te āwhina i tēnā, i tēnā o mātou kia oti,” i kī atu ia.

I ā te tīma e whakatutuki ana i ngā akoranga, i kī a Royce ka kitea e te hapori ka whakawhiwhia e te nuinga o rātou ngā tūranga rangatira, whakahaere rānei i ngā hua kiwi me ētahi atu wāhi.

“Ehara ngā akoranga i te uaua. He iwi nō tētahi rohe whakatupu kai, he iwi whakatupu, ā, he akoranga mō ā mātou tāngata kia mōhio me pēhea te whakatupu me te taha pūtaiao o tērā mahi.”

Kei te tautokohia nuitia e Haki McRoberts kia whakakipakipa i ō tātou whānau ki te whakapakari.

“I tā mātou tīmatanga, ko mātou ngā ihu oneone. Ka pau te 10 tau me te whakaaro, ‘ko rātou ngā rangatira, ko tātou ngā ihu oneone. Kei te hē rawa atu tēnā, nō tātou te whenua.”

Ko te mea matua kia tīnihia ko ō mātou waiaro ki te mana o te mātauranga me te whakapono ki ō rātou ake pūkenga.

“Ināianei, ko ngā rangatira nō mātou, ko mātou hoki kei te ārahi, ā, ko ngā ihu oneone katoa he mea tiki i waho i te rohe, ā, ko mātou tō rātou kaiwhakawhiwhi mahi. Kei a mātou ngā tūranga teitei, kei a rātou ngā mahi ihu oneone mā mātou,” i kī a Haki.

Kei te rangi te pae tawhiti

Mai i ngā pihinga tuatahi i whakatō i tērā 20 tau ki tētahi pakihi tōnui me ngā uru huarākau, he kamupene tuari rehu, ā, ināianei he kōhanga, he nui ngā āheinga a TKG mō te katoa o te tairāwhiti.

Mehemea ka whai hua i te whakawhānuitanga, ko te whakatinanatanga o tērā he huringa oranga mō ngā hapori o Te Kaha, o Ōmaio, o Raukokore, ka whiwhi tūranga mahi i te tau mō te 175 tāngata mō ngā tau e toru.

Pōhiritia e Piripi Jennings te whakaaro “kei te rangi te pae tawhiti”.

He take tūturu tēnei kia amo ake i te oranga o ō mātou tāngata, te whakatū tūranga mahi me ngā nohoanga whare. Koinā tō mātou whakairinga tūmanako me tō mātou wawata.”

Te Kaha Gold is a partnership of 6 ahu whenua trusts on 80 hectares of land in Te Kaha. The kiwifruit enterprise is bringing whānau home and creating a future for their uri.

Hoani Kerei – Overall Orchard Manager: I was born on the land right here. This used to be a dairy farm in my young days. This land was conquered in the old days by Te Whānau-a-Te-Ēhutu and my tipuna, Wharengaio got these two blocks here – 9B and 67. And he had two sons, Te Ahiwaru who signed the Treaty of Waitangi for Te Whānau-ā-Apanui and his brother Te Mangokaitupua. That’s why we have two blocks side by side.

Haki McRoberts – Chairperson, Te Kaha Landowners Group (TKG): When we first started you know, a lot of people came in. We looked at it for about 10 years and we said something’s wrong here – they are the bosses, and we are the labourers.

Piripi Jennings – General Manager, Te Kaha Landowners Group (TKG): With Te Puni Kokiri the support we’ve received has largely been around development, and sort of design and implementation flows of different projects that we’ve had going. The first one was around our pilot nursery Te Heriko.

Haki McRoberts: We got our own managers from Te Whānau-ā-Apanui managing all of our own orchards around here. We’ve got our own supervisors. We’ve got our own leading hands working in our orchards.

Te Ataarangi Parata - Nursery: It’s a big family, it’s a big whānau with the nursery, the orchards, the spray shed so we are just a whole family working together as one.

Haki McRoberts: The other good thing about it we get a lot of money from kiwifruit, but money’s not everything. We try to keep our people employed.

Royce Hou – Orchard Manager: Eleven years ago I brought my family back to Te Kaha. I started off in the kiwifruit as a worker and then as a supervisor, decided to go on the Bay of Plenty Polytech training to upskill myself. Being here and helping our people grow has actually provided an opportunity for my children to have something to come back to.

Ray Karauria – Orchard Manager: TKG have got that structure in place and are able to facilitate the whole thing going forward and really with that leadership the sky’s the limit with what TKG can achieve going forward.