Plans to push the popularity of our national fruit

Kiwifruit grower Zespri wants to establish a breeding centre with Crown institute Plant and Food Research.

The partnership would aim to develop further varieties of kiwifruit.

Zespri chief sustainability officer Carol Ward says this is about pushing for growth in an increasingly competitive fruit market.

She says kiwifruit remains less than one per cent of the fruit basket, however Zespri hopes to go five fold on that figure over the next 50 years.