The financial impacts of the kiwifruit vine killing disease Psa-V are being recognised by the Government which today declared the disease an ‘biosecurity event'.

The declaration means hardest hit growers throughout the North Island will be eligible for Rural Assistance Payments.

The vine killing disease Psa has now been declared an 'biosecurity event'.

Primary Industries Minister David Carter declared Psa a medium-scale biosecurity event under the Government's Primary Sector Recovery Policy today, triggering further assistance for growers dealing with the impacts of the disease.

'The Government has worked closely with kiwifruit industry representatives to ensure that this declaration is timed to give maximum possible benefit to growers.

'Psa was first detected in New Zealand in November 2010 but there was a noticeable time lag before it began to affect orchard incomes.”

New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc president Neil Trebilco welcomes the news saying it will give growers affected by Psa a level of financial and welfare support to help them through the impact of the disaster.

NZKGI and others in the industry have been working with the Government to change the ‘adverse event' provisions to cover not only short term natural disasters such as floods or drought, but also bio-security incursion by pests and disease.

'The reality is the full impact of Psa is only just beginning to be felt as many growers start to face their first season without all, or a large part of their orchard cash flow, as a result of having lost their vines to the disease.

'It is when the income from their last harvest stops that the financial and psychological pressure of Psa will weigh most heavily on growers and their families,” says Neil.

Under the support package those growers who are eligible will have access to welfare and psychological support, through a Government contribution to community support agencies working with impacted growers and their families.

They will also be eligible to receive the Rural Assistance Payment (RAP).

To be eligible, growers have to meet an income and asset test. For example, $341.60 for a married couple with no children, and $204.96 for a single person over 25 years of age. Assets that are part of the kiwifruit growing business will not be included in the assessment.

Off-orchard assets and income are counted in the assessment.

Declaring an adverse event means the Government will take over funding many of the support programmes previously paid for by the industry. Government support and funding is now available to assist with:

• Supporting the industry and the community with seminars, discussion groups and meetings to help deal with the crisis and plan a way ahead.
• To help arrange events designed to increase community unity and its ability to work through this crisis.
• There is funding support for sending out pamphlets, technical information and future planning information.
• There is funding support for individuals who need one on one counselling help.
• The Government will now fund the work that to date has been paid for by the industry for the coordinators who have set up local networks and responded to calls for assistance.
• The Government will fund a wider communications strategy that will get key points and messages out to the community through the media and other means.

Neil says the wider public has little awareness of how serious the impacts of the bacterial disease are on the industry and how important kiwifruit is to the local and national economy.

'The kiwifruit industry is an important earner of over overseas funds for New Zealand and provides employment, directly or indirectly for thousands of people.

'In the current year Psa has cost the industry around $100million and that could double next year. Growers have not only lost their income, they have also lost their equity in the land.

'The Government assistance is welcome and I urge growers who need help to ask for it, but this in no way compensates them for what they have lost.”

Te Puke, where the disease was first identified in 2010, has so far been hardest hit, with many growers cutting out mature vines and re-grafting to new varieties, meaning they will have no income for at least two seasons.

However, Psa has now been found in every other North Island growing region and unless a radical new means of controlling the disease is found, those regions also face the prospects of losing vines in future seasons, in particular the sensitive and high earning gold Hort16A variety.

As of November 29, 2025 orchards had some vines infected, representing 68 per cent of the land on which kiwifruit is grown in New Zealand. So far only the South Island region remains apparently free of the disease.

Neil says the industry continues to focus on beating the disease and returning to its long-term growth path.

'I'm confident we can do this, but in the meantime this kind of help is critical to give those who have lost almost everything, the time to recover and rebuild their lives.”

If anyone needs assistance they are encouraged to contact NZKGI on 0800 232 505.