Psa affects half of Bay orchards

Psa is spreading and the kiwifruit vine-killing disease is now infecting more than 50 per cent of all Bay of Plenty kiwifruit orchards.

Latest figures from Kiwifruit Vine Health (KVH) show 1,334 orchards nationwide have been identified with Psa-V - a virulent form of the bacterial vine-killing diesease.

In the Bay of Plenty, there are 2,600 kiwifruit orchards and 1324 of these are infected with Psa-V.

Twenty nine new cases of Psa-V have been identified this week _ eight in Katikati, eight in Tauranga East, four in Te Puke, three in Whakatane, two in Waihi, two in Tauranga West, one in Opotiki and one in the Coromandel region.

Ten orchards outside the Bay region are also infected by Psa. These orchards are in the Franklin, Coromandel and Waikato areas.

A KVH spokesperson said Psa had infected 40 per cent of all New Zealand kiwifurit orchards.

There are 13,900 hectares of kiwifruit orchards throughout New Zealand and 6,900 are counted as infected.

KVH said entire orchards were counted even though only parts of orchards were affected.

Meanwhile, the results of the National Psa-V Pest Management Plan (NPMP) have been announced.

Results from the NPMP grower poll confirmed growers and leaseholders support the implementation of a NPMP.

The poll, which closed on Friday 31 August, was weighted by the number of kiwifruit hectares per KPIN (Kiwifruit Property Identification Number).

KVH said 50 per cent of eligible voters cast their votes and 77 per cent of these voters support the proposed NPMP.

KVH said overall support was "very strong'', with more than 90 per cent support in ten out of seventeen regions.

Two thirds of the votes were cast by land-owner growers and one third by lease-holder growers.

The land-owner growers voted 84 per cent in support of the NPMP and the lease-holder growers voted 65 per cent in support.

KVH said Psa-V posed "a significant risk'' to all New Zealand kiwifruit growers.

Psa was identified in New Zealand in November 2010.