Direct from our fields to you … Hawaii papayas … grown with Aloha

ABOUT US

Our Vision

The Hawaii Papaya Industry Association envisions nutritious, quality Hawaii grown papayas will be available to consumers worldwide. The association exists to promote the improvement of business conditions in the State of Hawaii for the papaya industry, including the conditions relating to cultivation, distribution, sales, and use of papayas.

We are committed to this purpose for the improvement and orderly development of the papaya industry ... through research, education and cooperation on a non-partisan basis.

History of the Hawaii Papaya Industry Association

In 1910, Dr. Garritt P. Wilder, a botanist at the Bishop Museum, was credited as introducing the Solo papaya in Hawaii. This marked one of the giant steps in papaya breeding in Hawaii, as Solo became the dominant type in commercial production. (A side note here: The name ‘Solo’ originated from Puerto Rican labor force then at the Hawaii Experiment Station, who began calling the papaya ‘Solo’ because ‘Solo’ means ‘one’ or ‘alone’ in Spanish and the fruit was small enough for one man to eat a whole fruit by himself. The name has stuck since.)

The date was November 13,1965, in the city of Hilo Hawaii, the Hawaii papaya industry was formally organized. On this monumental date at the venue of the old Hilo Hotel, the first meeting of an organization of papaya producers in Hawaii was called to order. There must have been about 150 producers; handlers; wholesalers; shippers; University of Hawaii and government officials at this meeting that marked a milestone in the development of the papaya industry in Hawaii. The dream was to have an organization of the papaya industry and not a marketing cooperative. This was the inception of the Hawaii Papaya Industry Association.

Marketing, however, became one of the most serious problems of the papaya industry. Being subject to anti-trust laws came into discussions and led to consider the idea of becoming a Marketing Order. In May 1971 the papaya industry became a Federal Marketing Order, an entity of the United States Department of Agriculture.

In 1978, the Hawaii Papaya Industry Association was officially incorporated in the state of Hawaii as a non-profit organization to compliment the Marketing Order and pursue its vision. In the 1990’s, with the unprecedented economic losses in papaya production due to the devastating papaya ringspot virus (PRSV), the development of the transgenic Rainbow was the focus of activity for the papaya industry.

With the inactivation of the Marketing Order in 2002, the Hawaii Papaya Industry Association exists to continue to promote the improvement of business conditions in the State of Hawaii for the papaya industry.