Zespri has increased the allocation of licences for a more PSA-tolerant gold kiwifruit variety, to meet demand from growers.
Zespri has decided to allocate licenses for more than 1100 hectares of the new G3 cultivar - 288 hectares more than originally planned.
Growers are replacing infected vines with the new variety as they try to recover from the losses inflIcted by the disease.
More than half of the new licenses will go to growers of the standard green Hayward variety and new orchard developments.
But more than 400 hectares will go to growers looking to replace the old 16A gold variety, which has proved to be the most susceptible to the disease.
