IDeA Agro and Agrintesa Cooperativa Agricola have partnered to launch an agricultural development operation in Italy growing Zespri's SunGold kiwifruit.

The G3 variety will be planted on an area of about 100 hectares in the province of Latina.

The agreement also provides that the owners of the land will grant management of an additional 60 hectares, which will be partially converted, in order to complete the overall production of the plant.

Agrintesa, operational partner of the project with a 10% stake in the capital of Agro Gold (a specially constituted vehicle), is one of the four Italian licensees of the New Zealand company Zespri, owner of the patent rights and genetics of the Gold 3 variety and one of the leaders world-class in the marketing of kiwi.

The decision to invest in a SunGold yellow kiwi production project is linked to several factors: first of all, this variety allows higher yields and prices than the traditional Hayward green kiwifruit.

Added to this is that, in Europe, Italy is the most suitable area and the largest producer of yellow kiwifruit and that, being a variety produced under license, the available supply will always be commensurate with the actual demand and the growth trends recorded from the market.

Pier Felice Murtas , managing director of the IDeA Agro fund, commented: "I am very happy to announce, together with the launch of this ambitious project that sees us as partners with a leading operator in the Italian fruit and vegetable world, also the final closing of the fund to 110 million.

Cristian Moretti, general manager of Agrintesa, commented: “We are proud to have been involved and to participate in the development of this important and ambitious kiwi cultivation. Thanks to the know-how achieved by our professionals, we will support Agro Gold, which is associated with our cooperative, during all stages of cultivation. To date, the production and economic results achieved on the variety are very positive and we believe that they can remain satisfactory in the future too".