An independent review by the Sapere Research Group on how the industry responded to the 2010 arrival of Psa-V into New Zealand has been released today. Click here.

The report, which states that the ‘New Zealand kiwifruit industry has quickly become the world leader in Psa-V management’, includes several recommendations for industry and Kiwifruit Vine Health (KVH) to consider going forward.

“Many of the recommendations have already been put in place by the industry and KVH, while others are under action and some will result in new work. Overall this confirms KVH is focussed in the right areas,” said KVH Chairman Peter Ombler.

“In particular, we are now working much closer with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and other industries to ensure we are better prepared going forward. This has been a major focus since KVH was given the mandate to lead wider biosecurity for the industry.

“To ensure we are in a much stronger position for future biosecurity incursions that could harm our industry, we must take forward the learnings from the Psa-V response.”

The focus of the review was on the overall decision-making, information flows, systems and processes that were in place at the time of the Psa-V incursion and during the response.

“The arrival of Psa-V into New Zealand had a major impact on our industry. While we responded strongly with every resource we had at the time, we were not prepared to deal with such a significant incursion.”

“During the response a number of industry people and leaders really stepped up and showed outstanding leadership while under a tremendous amount of pressure. The strength of the coordinated industry structure was very evident and a key enabler in the industry’s ability to respond. Growers came together and took decisive action during a very difficult time.”

The Sapere team carried out the review based on background information leading up to and including the current National Pest Management Plan; and a series of interviews with a broad range of industry and MPI representatives who were present at the time of the incursion.

The Sapere Research Group was commissioned by the KVH Board and selected following a tender process.

The aim of the review was to identify lessons learned from the response to the Psa-V incursion that could be used to support future responses to new pest and disease arrivals that could impact the New Zealand kiwifruit industry. The review does not examine how Psa-V may have arrived in New Zealand.

A summary of recommendations from the review and how KVH proposes to address them is also available on the KVH website – click here.

KVH is now seeking industry feedback on the KVH proposal by Friday 28 November. Feedback can be sent to KVH by email info@kvh.org.nz or by posting to PO Box 4246, Mount Maunganui, 3149 by 5pm, Friday 28 November.

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For media enquires:
Peter Ombler, KVH Chairman 0274 915 571