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Kiwifruit's most unwanted

Kiwifruit's most unwanted

There are eight organisms identified as the biggest biosecurity threat to New Zealand's kiwifruit industry.

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 Kiwifruit's most unwanted

Kiwifruit's most unwanted

Fruit flies

Fruit flies are the kiwifruit industry's most unwanted biosecurity threat. Any incursion can severely impact where we sell our fruit. The high risk period for fruit flies is September to June.

The Queensland Fruit Fly (QFF), native to Australia (our closest neighbour), is considered to be the greatest threat and has the most market impacts.

The financial impact of a fruit fly incursion in Te Puke to New Zealand’s kiwifruit industry is estimated to be between $200 million and $695 million. A Kiwifruit Journal article summarises the financial impacts of different incursion scenarios based on previous fruit fly incursions in New Zealand and overseas and economic modelling by Underwood (2023).

Threat Levels
Likelihood of entry
Medium
Likelihood of establishment
Medium
Production impacts
High
Market access impacts
Very Low

Pest ranking based on the KVH risk matrix

View risk matrix

KVH has developed a guide for growers that details the likely sequence of events if a fruit fly response was to occur in a kiwifruit growing region.

Plant & Food Research have been granted permission to import sterile QFF into a New Zealand containment facility to develop new attractants for female and male flies.

This long-term project will determine what the flies can smell and whether the odours can be used to improve the sensitivity of traps or increase the numbers of flies lured in. Three approaches are being used; odours based on host fruit, sex pheromones and bacteria.

This research is part of a larger collaborative approach with Australian organisations to manage and eradicate QFF populations. 

Supporting this is a Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) facility that can produce 50 million sterile QFF per week as an eradication tool for release in Australia or New Zealand should an established population ever become large enough for this to be required. Read more about the project here.

KVH supports these research activities as an integral component of our readiness activities for the industry’s most unwanted biosecurity threat.


Further fruit fly resources

SEEN SOMETHING UNUSUAL?

KVH investigates reports of unusual symptoms to identify and manage any biosecurity risks.

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LATEST NEWS

23 Apr 2025

Stopping our most unwanted

A reminder the latest fruit fly and Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) risk updates are always available on the KVH website. These updates include the latest detection and surveillance information, including our industry-led activities, and are produced every month.

Read more

23 Apr 2025

Listen to the latest news

We have a new Snapshot podcast online, where we chat with Ryan, Chief Quarantine Officer for the Ministry for Primary Industries, about the work his teams do across biosecurity. Ryan manages the Tauranga, Hamilton, and Northland regions – there are biosecurity teams in all three regions – and in the chat we focus on the way they manage cruise ships, transitional facilities, and various partnerships that they have with KVH and the kiwifruit industry. The Snapshot podcasts are free and available now on SoundCloud and Apple iTunes.

Read more

23 Apr 2025

Interactive surveillance maps: finding pests and diseases early

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is always looking for pests and diseases that might have arrived from overseas. Finding them early is vital for successful biosecurity responses. The online and interactive Atlas of biosecurity surveillance explains more about the what, where and why of our nation’s surveillance programmes, including fruit flies, one of our industry’s “most unwanted”. There are 13 targeted programmes, focusing on specific pests, diseases and biosecurity risks. You can interact with such tools as surveillance maps, showing locations of trap sites, and see latest data for investigations by MPI teams, by region. General surveillance is also important - that is harnessing those who are out on our orchards, to contribute to gathering and reporting information around the presence of potentially new and unwanted threats. If you’ve seen an unusual pest or disease symptom, make a report by filling in our online form and we will be in touch.

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