New Zealand alert for kiwi fruit disease (Roundup)

Nov 9, 2010, 6:39 GMT

Wellington - It could be more than a week before New Zealand growers of kiwi fruit, one of the country's most valuable exports, know the potential impact of a vine disease never seen before in the country.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry confirmed Tuesday that a bacterial canker known as PSA had been discovered on two orchards in the North Island's Bay of Plenty province, which produces 80 per cent of the national crop.

Both orchards were placed in quarantine and officials urged people to stay away from properties where the fruit is cultivated to avoid spreading the disease, which has the potential to hit exports.

Lain Jager, chief executive of the biggest kiwi marketer, Zespri, told Radio New Zealand urgent tests were being conducted to establish the strain of PSA.

The outcome of the tests was critical because some strains were more virulent than others, and the impact on crops varied in countries that had the disease.

Zespri handles 30 per cent of the international trade in kiwi fruit, selling 380,000 tons to 55 countries in the fiscal year to March 31, a business worth 1.5 billion New Zealand dollars (1.2 billion US dollars) to the national economy.

There was no immediate move by importing countries but the United States immediately banned trade in the fruit vine nursery stock.

Officials said the bacteria affected only vines and the US was allowing continuing imports of fruit.

One grower told Radio New Zealand that PSA was the 'foot and mouth' of the kiwi fruit industry - a reference to the virulent disease that can cripple cattle and provoke international trade bans when found.

Representatives of Zespri's 2,700 growers met with ministry officials and plant researchers to discuss the outbreak, which is spread by wind, bees and poor agricultural hygiene practices.

Officials said the disease was present in Japan, Portugal, South Korea, Iran and most other kiwi fruit growing areas of the world, but was most virulent in Italy, where it had halved crop yields.

David Carter, minister of agriculture and biosecurity, said the disease had potential to disrupt trade, as China, which buys about 7 per cent of New Zealand exports, and India, another important market, both restrict imports from countries where it is present.

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