Directors at New Zealand kiwifruit co-op Satara Co-operative Group Ltd have announced that they are still pushing ahead with a merger proposal.

Growers and investors at Satara and EastPack Satara were polled last week on a merger of the two entities but votes in favour fell just short of the required number.

On Tuesday directors at Satara gave their unanimous support for the proposal to amalgamate Satara with EastPack Satara a wholly owned subsidiary of EastPack Ltd.

A second special meeting of the transactor-only interest group will be called to reconsider the merger proposal. The meeting will be held at Satara on 14 March.

There were five voting groups within Satara last week that were asked to vote with four of the five voting in favour of the merger.