June 2014
The Fiji Papaya industry will now have access to locally produced, high quality papaya seed at a more affordable rate. NWC in close collaboration with the Fiji Ministry of Agriculture Research Division has developed a certification scheme for the production and sale of ‘Fiji Red’ papaya seed. This locally produced ‘Fiji Red’ seed replaces seed that was previously imported at a very high cost from the University of Hawaii.
The launch of the new seed scheme is a result of several years of research to re-introduce the package of practices for local tree selection, flower bagging, quality assessment and processing. This research was funded through the ACIAR Fiji Papaya Project. The current seed production standard provides the industry with a guarantee that only the best genetics, selected under Fiji’s conditions are available for export.
Without the additional costs of freight and quarantine fees, the locally produced seed is available to nurserymen and farmers at a cheaper rate than seed from the University of Hawaii. This cost savings is in line with the primary goal of the Fiji Papaya Project, which is to make more papaya production and exporting more profitable for all actors in the supply chain.