Rivoira/ Yellow Kiwi: a new approach to the kiwi category!
Marco Rivoira, CEO of RIVOIRA GROUP, has presented an update of the development of the last 12 months:
“So far these are two yellow pulp varieties, one of which has a long shelf life called “022”, and one with an early harvest, the “076”, which have shown in 7 years of testing a strong resilience towards “bacteriosis” (PSA) and “moria”, the two biggest problems facing producers in Europe and around the world today.”
“The opportunities of this project are enormous, said Marco Rivoira, when we know that Italy alone has lost thousands of hectares of plants of the yellow kiwi kiwi because of these two scourges.”
“Consumer demand for yellow kiwifruit is growing worldwide,” explained Gerhard Dichgans, Project Manager for the Piedmont-based group, “while production is unable to keep pace with demand due to agronomic difficulties. With this project and with these 2 new varieties, we think we finally have a concrete answer for growers.”
Laura Zeoli of ZEOLI FRUIT (Italy) and Zisis Manossis of ZEUS KIWI (Greece) then presented in detail the agronomic characteristics of the two varieties, while prof. Raffaele Testolin of the University of Udine illustrated the breeding and selection work on kiwifruit carried out by the University and started back in 1986.
“The great strength of our proposal, underlined Marco Rivoira, is to have two varieties available that give concrete and immediate answers to the agronomic challenges in which the sector pours, combined with superior quality and shelf life: the late variety “022” can be stored in refrigeration easily until mid-May, as demonstrated by the first batches of goods collected in October 2022 and processed and marketed in April.”
Confidence in the project is also demonstrated by the 140 hectares already planted in 2022, to which 220 hectares will be added this spring and another 200 hectares in 2024. For this autumn 2023, a first “commercial” harvest of over 500 tons is expected!
The project is therefore already in full commercial development, with a total of 1,500 hectares sub-licensed. In fact, Gerhard Dichgans presented the licensee companies that have so far joined the project for 150 hectares each, all present at the conference: Apo Scaligera (Zevio, Italy), Clementi (Laives, Italy), Innatis (Angers, France), Kiwi Uno (Verzuolo, Italy), Peviani (Siziano, Italy), Savajols (St.Rambert d’Albon, France), Surexport (Sevilla, Spain), Zeus Kiwi (Katerini, Greece), Zeoli Fruit (Cisterna di Latina, Italy). OP Armonia (Battipaglia, Italy) also joins the project with 50 hectares for organic production only, and 2 producer groups for 50 hectares each: Arta Gold (Arta, Greece) and Agrihold (Valencia, Spain).
The next step will be the presentation of the brand and the marketing project at Fruitattraction, on October 3-5 in Madrid.
