Recent Maori Involvement in Manuka Honey
In the late 1990s and the early 2000s Eddie Matchitt a leader of Te Whanau-a-Te Ehutu, a hapu (sub –tribe) of Te Whanau-Apanui noted the growing numbers of beekeepers bringing their hives to the Whangaparaoa area. Beekeepers from outside the district would bring thousands of hives into the area and after the season was over take the hives out for extraction and sale. None of the substantial profits made were invested in the area.
Together with other local leaders, Eddie Matchitt approached a number of tribal land trusts and authorities to enter the business of beekeeping and Whakaari Beekeepers Limited was established. In 2002 and the company began business after buying a number of small bee companies.
The company directors set out with the objective of creating employment for their own people and creating wealth from their own lands. From the outset Whakaari Beekeepers Limited set out to establish a fully integrated business. A major obstacle for the company was the area’s isolation (some two hours from the nearest largest town Opotiki); the lack of trained staff and a lack of experience in running a bee company.
In 2004 another company East Coast Beekeepers Limited was established to reach into the Manuka areas of the East Coast.
Whakaari International Limited was established in 2004 specifically to market the honey harvested, extracted and bottled by Whakaari Beekeepers Limited (2001) and East Coast Beekeepers Limited (2003). Whakaari International has developed markets in Japan, England, China, Singapore and Ireland. For both bulk honey and bottled honey.
In 2009 Whakaari International and East Coast Beekeepers became a single entity and in 2010. As our market share has increased so rapidly the next step in our expansion plan was to build our own bottling plant which was completed in June of the same year.