Kiwifruit marketer Zespri says the implementation of a national pest management strategy for the bacterial vine disease Psa will have implications for beekeepers in Bay of Plenty.
Since the disease was first found in a Te Puke kiwifruit block in November 2010, it has spread to 88% of orchards in the wider Te Puke region.
Zespri orchard productivity manager Shane Max told the National Beekeepers conference in Napier that the Kiwifruit Vine Health organisation is working on a management strategy for Psa.
He says there will be slightly different rules depending on whether growers are in an area which is infected or free of the disease.
Mr Max says idea is to stop the disease spreading and to have the power under the Biosecurity Act to be able to do that, including measures such as mandatory reporting and the ability to take samples if needed.
