The Western Bay of Plenty District Council is to become the lead territorial authority in a Bay wide initiative to help address the economic and social impacts of the kiwifruit vine disease Psa-V.
Western Bay Mayor Ross Paterson said mayors and councillors from Tauranga and Rotorua city councils, and Opotiki, Whakatane, Kawerau and Hauraki district councils attended a meeting called by Western Bay council on Wednesday.
Representatives of Kiwifruit Vine Health and New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc were also in attendance.
Mr Patterson said the intention was for councils to support current industry initiatives to cope with the impacts of the bacterial disease Psa-V and a statement is to be released shortly outlining initiatives councils will be taking.
Te Puke is currently the region hardest hit but Mr Paterson said Psa-V had been found on orchards in other regions too.
Pseudomonas syringae pv actinidiae is a disease of kiwifruit vines which, since first discovered on a Te Puke orchard in November 2010, has infected nearly 1000 orchards throughout the country's growing regions. Most are in Te Puke, and most of those are orchards which grow the high earning gold fruit called Hort16A.
While there will be a kiwifruit harvest this season, it is still unclear how much gold fruit will be picked and growers who have removed diseased vines will receive no income from kiwifruit this season. Already there have been job losses within the industry and rural towns are feeling the effects of reduced spending.
Last week, 777 Te Puke orchards were reported to have the disease. Other figures were: Tauranga (70), Whakatane (47), Opotiki (29), Katikati (11), Waihi (11) and Franklin (5). Nationwide 51 per cent of gold and 34 per cent of green hectares are on orchards with Psa-V.
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