A report on how the devastating kiwifruit vine-killing disease Psa first made its way into New Zealand is still not ready to be released, according to reports in the country.
According to the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the report is being finalised but is not yet ready to be made available to the public, and it would not confirm when it would be released, Radio New Zealand reported.
More than one-fifth of orchards have been identified as having the disease since Psa was discovered late last year, most of them in the Te Puke region, while priority zones cover more than 70 per cent of the country's kiwifruit land.
Last week, Kiwifruit Vine Health (KVH), the New Zealand kiwifruit industry body established to lead the battle against Psa in the country, said thatmany gold kiwifruit orchards in Te Puke are unlikely to harvest a crop next year as a result of the bacterial vine infection.
According to KVH general manager John Burke, some 85 per cent of Te Puke's gold orchards are infected with the Psa-V strain of the disease.
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