The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has placed restrictions around the movement of kiwifruit nursery stock including living kiwifruit plants, rootstock and budwood to try and contain the spread of Psa.
The controls prohibit the movement of any kiwifruit nursery stock out of a designated zone known as a controlled area.

A Psa infected leaf.

This controlled area surrounds the Te Puke township and includes the areas where properties infected with the more virulent type of Psa (Psa-V) are located, as well as a surrounding buffer zone.

As of June 1, a total of 239 orchards have been confirmed with the kiwifruit vine bacterial disease Pseudomonas syringae pv actinidiae.
The majority of orchards identified with Psa are in the greater Te Puke region (199 – that's 83 per cent of the total infected).

Of those, 122 orchards have been confirmed with Psa-V.

MAF response manager David Yard says the controlled area notice has been issued to help prevent spread of this virulent type of Psa to growing areas that are so far free from infection.

'We have established that plant material and rootstock may be able to carry Psa and relocate it to uninfected orchards,” says David.

'For this reason, we need to ensure that plant material from the area known as the priority zone or from the buffer area around it is not moved to Psa-free areas.”

This controlled area notice does not restrict the movement of either fruit itself or kiwifruit pollen.

Nurseries within the controlled area are still able to sell their product.

David says Kiwifruit Vine Health (KVH), the industry organisation leading the kiwifruit industry response to Psa, will purchase and destroy any stock from within the priority zone where Psa has been detected. Any remaining stock from nurseries in the controlled area will be purchased by KVH at the end of the season.

The controlled area takes in the district surrounding the Te Puke township bordered in the north by the sea, in the west by Domain Road and the Papamoa Hills, in the south by the highest points on Number 3, Number 2, Te Matai, Maungarangi, Ridge, Maniatutu, Pongakawa Bush Roads, and the highest point on State Highway 33 and the Pongakawa Valley and the Rotoehu Forest and in the east by Pikowai Road.

As part of a community education campaign to reduce the risk of the kiwifruit vine killing disease Psa spreading to other regions, KVH is placing road signs carrying the message: ‘Prevent Psa Disease on Kiwifruit Orchards: Control Plant Movement', on key roads leading into the wider Te Puke region.

They will be a visible reminder to the kiwifruit industry and the wider surrounding community, of the need to control the movement of kiwifruit plant material out of the region.