YOUR INDUSTRY
Raymond Young in Japanese papaya orchard selecting green fruit for research in New Zealand
Papaya extract potential Usually we associate papaya with the golden tropical fruit that is deliciously sweet and juicy. But Raymond Young, a New Zealander living in Japan, is far more interested in papaya leaves and green unripe fruit. Words by Wendy Laurenson : Photographs by Raymond Young
“Papaya leaves have been used in tropical areas for traditional herbal remedies for mosquito related illnesses, so we’ve initiated a research and development project supported by Callaghan Innovation and clinical study at universities in Asia and the United Kingdom, to see if they may be effective against dengue fever. Early results are both promising and surprising.” Raymond is the managing director of a Queenstown based company Fuller Young International, and the project started over six years ago with a request from his Singapore-based daughter concerned about dengue fever risk to her children. “She’d heard that papaya extract worked against the dengue fever virus, and that has led us to actually growing papaya and extracting compounds from the leaves. After identifying the key compound that was effective against the dengue virus, we started looking at efficient methods of processing and manufacturing, but discovered that getting consistent sizeable quantities of 48
The ORCHARDIST : MARCH 2021
papaya leaf was difficult. We investigated various supplies from Pacific Island nations but logistics and verifying that the plant was free of GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) in origin proved tricky, so we started to grow our own in Japan where I live and have family connections.” While papaya grows and fruits best in tropical climates, Japan has cold winters and hot summers, so Raymond and his colleagues grew them there as an annual crop. They trialled different varieties boosted with organic nutrients and irrigation to get vigorous growth while retaining a high percentage of the effective enzyme, and eventually came up with their own TM (trademark) variety named Wakatengu with origins in Malaysia and Japan. “After a five-year investment, we struggled to produce the tonnes of leaf we needed for commercial production, so we shifted focus to look at the health benefits of green papaya fruit, which is very popular in Japan and Asia as
