Learn about Katikati College and
the Bay of Plenty Horticultural Sector
Katikati College
Katikati College is a semi-rural, decile five secondary school catering to Year 7-13. The school roll is around 800 students of which 19% are Māori and 4% are Pasifika.
Katikati College is situated in the rural western Bay of Plenty and is surrounded by orchards, primarily kiwifruit and avocado. Although horticulture has always been taught at the College, it was up until a few years ago regarded as a ‘drop-out’ subject by the school community and the school has not been able to finance the appropriate resources to encourage student engagement. The facilities are sub-standard for teaching purposes and there is a lack of modern equipment for students to use.
Katikati is a mixed socio-economic area with wealthy rural landowners living next door to very low-income residential homes, often with multiple families under one roof. The kiwifruit and avocado industries provide local, seasonal work which means out of season unemployment soars. In low-income families, poor health and housing issues are most often felt.
Katikati College aims to increase retention and achievement levels. In 2017, 25 percent of students left the College without NCEA level 2 and 50 percent leave without NCEA level 3. For Māori, 60 percent of students left the College without NCEA level 2 and 78 percent without level 3.
Since 2018 the College’s new Innovative Horticulture Programme has resulted in enrolments of over 100 senior students, high levels of academic and personal achievement, and high retention. The disparity gap in achievement between Māori, Pasifika and Pakeha is a thing of the past.
The Innovative Horticulture Programme is modular, personalised and future focused.
The Bay of Plenty
Horticultural Sector
New Zealand’s horticulture sector is experiencing strong growth. Within the Bay of Plenty, this growth is led by the kiwifruit and avocado industries and supported by some new horticultural developments.
The projected growth of the kiwifruit industry alone will contribute significantly to the Bay of Plenty GDP, increasing it by 135% from 867 million to 2.04 billion by 2029/2030, (source: University of Waikato). Already, 82% of New Zealand kiwifruit currently comes from the Bay of Plenty and accounts for 8% of the region’s employment. More than a third of New Zealand’s horticulture revenue is attributable to kiwifruit, and a simple calculation demonstrates that 28% of that revenue comes from Bay of Plenty fruit.
The key constraints to achieving this growth can be summarised as land, labour and water. In particular, lack of water infrastructure and attraction of permanent and seasonal labour to the region are significant areas of concern.
The critical shortage in kiwifruit workers could hinder the growth in the industry. The horticulture industry is working collaboratively with industry, regional stakeholders and government through the Bay of Connections Regional Growth Programme to establish a long-term strategy to address the current and predicted future shortages of people to support industry growth. This includes research to better understand employment needs over the next ten years, strategies to attract and upskill young people and projects to enhance Māori business and governance.
The Bay of Plenty Tertiary Intentions Strategy has recommended the development of a business case for creating a global centre for primary sector research and education, initially focused on horticulture, and the New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc. It is also considering the establishment of a horticulture and agriculture academy in the Bay of Plenty.
The Annual Report from Priority One (the Western Bay of Plenty’s economic development agency) highlights education as a critical catalyst within regional innovation to drive economic growth. It emphasises the importance of initiatives that will ensure future labour force develop skills in line with the region’s strengths, particularly through secondary and tertiary education opportunities. The 2015 Toi Moana Regional Growth Study highlights nine key work streams to be developed in the Bay of Plenty including: Agribusiness; Forestry and Wood Products; Horticulture; Education and Skills and Māori Land Utilisation.