The Press MONDAY. FEBRUARY 11, 1974. Taming the gley podzols

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33456, 11 February 1974, Page 12

The Press MONDAY. FEBRUARY 11, 1974. Taming the gley podzols

For 100 years the gley podzol soils of the West Coast — better known by their local name of pakihi — have defied attempts to drain them and convert them to pasture. Last year, however, the Ministry of Agriculture demonstrated that pakihi land could be turned into fine pasture if it were adequately drained, topdressed with lime, superphosphate, and trace elements, and intensively grazed to provide animal manures. If the West Coast Regional Development Council decides to go ahead with the Ministry's recommendation that 15.000 acres of pakihi near Westport should be developed for beef and dairy farming, another 200 farmers might be settled on what has been waste and barren land. The benefits for Westport and Karamea are obvious; if the experiment succeeds, other pockets of pakihi land between Greymouth and Bruce Bay to the south might also be brought into production. Overcoming the technical difficulties of developing pakihi land is not. unfortunately, the end of the matter. Producing the pasture takes about two years. The process is expensive and demands considerable farming skill if the new growth is to be maintained. The special needs of the West Coast for development funds should not lead the Government into an expensive commitment to create farms from pakihi, regardless of the costs. The plan envisages an increase of about 25 per cent in the number of farms on the Coast. Extra transport and processing plants would be needed, as well as expanded services of all kinds. Rapid expansion of farming on the Coast will be worth while only if detailed examination shows it to be an economic proposition which, in the medium term at least, will benefit New Zealand as a whole. Otherwise, funds available for development on the Coast would be better spent on mining, forestry, and tourism where the area's potential is more thoroughly proven.