Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ) president Andrew Fenton has expressed extreme concern over the risks created by air travel to the country’s $5 billion (£2bn) horticulture industry.

Fenton said making trans-Tasmanian air travel such as a domestic flight will create unacceptable hazards through passenger baggage to the industry, which he hopes will be worth $10 billion by 2020.

New Zealanders are hugely concerned that the Queensland Fruit Fly, described as "horticulture’s foot and mouth", could severely infest crops and close a number of international markets.

Independent studies have put the potential cost of a fruit fly incursion, in the Bay of Plenty alone, at up to $800 million in the first year, with the loss of more than 5,000 jobs.

Fenton said: “All it takes is one piece of fruit fly-infested, undeclared fruit at the bottom of someone’s bag to close our international markets overnight, possibly for a very long time.

“This is not a hypothetical situation. It actually happened in 1996. We were just lucky then that the fruit fly was found in Auckland, not in a major fruit production area.

“We need to be very careful that we don’t sacrifice millions of dollars of export earnings simply to save a few minutes for travellers at the border."

HortNZ has supported moves to streamline the border by using new technology and reducing duplication, but it must be done without compromising biosecurity.

“The idea of using smarter technology is great, but only if it builds on the solid foundation of protection we already have, using 100 per cent baggage x-ray.

“And knowing this, we are still going to have international flights landing in Rotorua soon. That strikes fear into the hearts of all Waikato and Bay of Plenty growers,” said Fenton.

“This isn’t about making your trip to Sydney 15 minutes shorter. We are concerned about protecting the industry that is New Zealand’s sixth-largest export earner,” said Fenton.