Taipa is a settlement on the southern side of Doubtless Bay in Northland, New Zealand. Renee Dumas has lived in the area for about eight years. She said she had always kept an eye on the citrus orchard and had observed the yearly harvest of mandarins and oranges. This year, however, she had noticed what she thought were mandarins still hanging on the trees, despite being outside their harvesting time.
Dumas said given the terrible food insecurity around the country, she was concerned if there was fruit being left to rot. "So much food is produced in New Zealand, yet we have people starving, it makes me so mad, especially when food is wasted."
According to Citrus NZ, mandarins are harvested in Northland first, starting in April and peaking in May, followed by Gisborne, which usually peaks at the end of June. This year's Satsuma mandarin harvest totalling about 7700 tons and the Northland portion producing about 25 per cent of that total.
Joe Lenaghan, T&G Fresh citrus manager, said residents had nothing to be concerned about and there was no risk of the fruit going to waste. "We started harvesting our Satsuma mandarins in early April and this season we finished in late May, so there was no delay in harvesting our orchard crop in Taipa. "Residents could be perhaps looking at navel orange trees, which are currently being harvested.”
Source: nzherald.co.nz