It was his fond childhood memories of eating fresh bananas in the Cook Islands that inspired Mathew Bergersen to try his hand at growing them.

'I spent four years living on Rarotonga so I got used to delicious bananas bought from roadside stalls or we'd be given a bunch by neighbours. There was no shortage of them and they tasted so good,” he says.

'We came back to New Zealand when I was eight years old, but I've never been a fan of supermarket bananas.”

Mathew helps run his family's four-hectare property at Te Puna growing avocados and kiwifruit and until a few years ago, calla lilies were grown in a 1000sqm greenhouse.

'It was going to be pulled down so I wanted to put it to good use. I looked into growing berries but they're labour intensive so I thought of bananas and how they're an untapped market. It was a last minute decision and a bit of a punt.”

Two years ago, Mathew bought 155 trees from a subtropical fruit tree grower in Northland.

'It was a long round trip towing the horse float and thinking about how much I needed to learn. I knew bananas could be grown here in the Bay – I mean, there are bunches hanging over garden fences all over the place and growers all the way down to Gisborne.

'But yeah, it was a bit of a reality check when I first unloaded them.”

In spite of caterpillar issues in the first year, Mathew has kept his bananas organic which appealed to local eatery Te Puna Deli.

Owner Sam Darragh jumped at the chance to sell locally grown bananas about two months ago.

'We love that they're chemical free and there's no freight involved getting them shipped from another country.

'Mathew simply drops them in as he's passing, and people buy them up as soon as they arrive. The mini Cavendish are very sweet and creamy and the ladyfingers are popular. They have a tropical, fruity flavour.”

Mathew is now selling about 15 kilos a week through the deli.

'It's still only early days. Banana palms throw out bigger bunches the older they get. I was told I wouldn't see fruit for 18 months, but we were picking bananas after eight months.

'I don't mind the odd blemish but I'm tough on my grading so I still give a lot to family and friends. I'd estimate I'm producing between 20-25kg of bananas a week.”

The waste from the banana palms is used around the orchard.

'We chop and mulch the banana leaves to use around other plants. It's quite fibrous so creates a nice, thick mulch around the avo's.

'The ladyfingers grow five metres tall and only fruit once so when we chop it back to waist height, there are a lot of trunks to chop up.”

Mathew takes a stroll through the bananas in the greenhouse. Photo: Supplied.

Bananas that have been imported from South America and the Philippines are harvested green so they don't ripen during shipping and are fumigated on arrival to kill any bugs.

'I'm not taking my bananas far, so I can leave them to ripen naturally. In fact, an indicator is sometimes that a banana splits and that's when the whole bunch is harvested. That means it's at optimum flavour when it hits the store.”

It turns out Bay of Plenty is a great place to grow bananas.

'Banana palms are just a grass, really, so as long as they get heaps of water, they're very happy. In fact, as soon as you get over 28 degrees they struggle.

'I'm even producing ‘double happys' – two bananas in one skin. People aren't used to them but once I get more confident with my product, I'll add them in. For the moment, though, it's a side line business and I'm just having fun with it.”