KVH works with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) on several initiatives, including advocating for the strongest possible procedures and systems at our borders to help stop the arrival of unwanted pests.

MPI recently released some statistics for the summer period (December to February) and the work that has been undertaken at airports in particular stands out. It’s imperative that we keep up strong biosecurity procedures and were pleased to read that MPI is set to meet or exceed their 98.5% compliance target for arriving passengers.

Of note to the kiwifruit industry, the statistics for the three-month summer period tell us:

• in the passenger space, there were no Queensland Fruit Fly Interceptions reported,
• there were 1059 cargo consignments targeted for Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) inspection. This is 160% more than the previous year,
• there were 93 BMSB interception events in cargo, mainly on used equipment and machinery.

Interestingly, hand luggage is where almost 80% of fruit fly host material is found at the border. Specialist x-ray scanning technology for small bags that could make it much easier to identify risk items is being looked at and trials are expected soon.

KVH also regularly produces summarised risk updates for the most unwanted threats to kiwifruit, using the latest data and information from MPI. These are available on the KVH website (the most recent ones are for fruit fly and BMSB).