Many Psa-hit Te Puke growers are out of income, some have no money to dispose of their PSa-hit vines and they are grafting a new variety in this diseased environment with fears it too may succumb.
Growers feel abandoned by the Government which meanwhile is paying at least $100 million to clean up after the sinking of the Rena – a foreign-owned ship
Against that background Thode, who last June cut out his owned Psa-hit gold crop, says he understands why growers injected their vines with streptomycin – an act of desperation.
“The thing that really bugs me is we have a disaster and the Government hasn’t even declared it a disaster,” he says. Some growers have no crop this year so can’t pay their mortgages; many others will have no crop next year.
“You have 2000ha in the Bay of Plenty going out of production. We have a massive disaster on our hands and the Government is providing no relief and is not acknowledging its part in a biosecurity failure that has had horrendous consequences.”
Thode believes action should have been taken in 2008 when Psa “went charging” through the Italian orchards and we were importing pollen from China. Growers were now carrying the cost of Psa and the burden on their own.
“It is tremendously un-New Zealand. You imagine a drought or a flood in which people are just left to themselves. That’s never happened in the history of New Zealand. The Government hasn’t done anything since the initial response. And that was appallingly handled; they just did testing and the disease was allowed to run rampant.”
Thode says although he cut out his Psa vines, many others have not. He has lost a third of his Hayward (green) crop this year to Psa at a cost of $300,000, even though this variety is seen as Psa-resistant. He believes this is because of the disease-ridden environment in Te Puke.
Last week was the deadline for growers to apply to graft for this winter the new Gold variety G3, which Zespri hopes will provide a recovery pathway. Fears have already been raised it too may be succumbing to Psa.
Thode says growers need to know if the Government will provide any assistance when they made that decision to buy G3 or not. He says growers need money for clean up alone. “How are some of the growers who have got no money whatsoever going to clean out their Hort16A? It is urgent to get rid of this disease-ridden cultivar or we haven’t got a chance of going forward.”
