Friday, March 29, 2024

Lockdown hurts fruit harvest

Avatar photo
The kiwifruit sector has been left hundreds of workers short after New Zealand’s unprecedented border shutdowns locked out seasonal workers for good this season. Kiwifruit Growers chief executive Nikki Johnson confirmed 1300 Recognised Seasonal Employer workers from the Pacific Islands unable to get here. That represents more than half the region’s allocation for RSE staff.
Reading Time: 2 minutes

The sector is seeking special dispensation to fly the workers in despite the border closure. 

Overall, the industry requires about 20,000 staff through the busy harvest season.

Before the border announcement the industry was looking tight but confident about prospects for meeting yet another record harvest, expected to be up 5% on last year’s 150 million trays.

“NZKGI is receiving expressions of interest from many people including those from industries negatively affected by covid-19, including forestry, hospitality and tourism,” she said.

Master Contractors chairman Richard Bibby said he has already received some calls from kiwifruit operators wanting to know if there are spare staff in Hawke’s Bay to send into Bay of Plenty.

“A lot of people come over to pick apples and then are used for pruning. There may be some issues in Marlborough for grape pruning this winter, however.

“We have about 100 RSE workers due here for pruning in June. We will also be looking if we can extend the visas of those who are here.”

All horticulture sectors were having a meeting late on Friday to discuss options for pooling what labour is available, including using displaced workers from forestry gangs and tourism companies.

“We have advertised 200 vacancies in Hawke’s Bay to a collective of forestry contractors but have had no uptake yet.”

Pastoral farmers also face labour issues.

Immigration law and recruitment company The Regions’ managing director Ben De’Ath said it has 40 people with approved visas waiting to enter NZ. 

The firm has 360 requests from farmers to fill vacancies, 200 of them in the South Island, between now and August.

There are also 30 existing farm work visa holders unable to re-enter NZ.

The potential gap for staff on dairy units could be more than 400, a gap De’Ath describes as astronomical.

“We’re going to have a lot of overworked and stressed existing staff, owners and managers who are picking up the shortfall.”

“Hopefully, this will see people willing to move to rural NZ and take up some of these farm jobs as the hospitality industry goes through tough times.”

Queenstown workers released from hospitality jobs are lining up jobs on nearby farms.

“There’s a small pool of relief milkers that can step in but it will be an absolute massive gap for as long as the globe is in a situation where people can’t safely travel internationally.”

Total
0
Shares
People are also reading