Government minister acknowledges industry concerns about the current “dysfunction” of the country’s plant import system
A coalition of New Zealand’s leading plant importers has met with minister for biosecurity, Andrew Hoggard, to express their concerns that the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) plant import system has reached breaking point.
The representatives travelled to Wellington to present their case on 27 July. The meeting followed a letter signed by 12 leading horticultural businesses representing the majority of users of New Zealand’s plant import system, warning of a “crisis of confidence” in the way the plant import system is currently structured and managed by MPI.
According to the coalition, the system’s “chronic dysfunction” is preventing growers from accessing the new plant varieties needed to lift productivity, improve resilience, and remain internationally competitive.
Growers cannot access exciting new Pear varieties from Europe that are already being grown in Australia. Additionally, new varieties of emerging crops with huge export potential such as persimmons, passionfruit, Blackcurrants, garlic, and a host of other horticultural crops, are also inaccessible to New Zealand growers.
In 2021, the New Zealand government approved NZ$29.5mn over four years for MPI to accelerate development of Import Health Standards. Five years on, only two new standards have been completed, the coalition said.
Industry leaders contend that years of reviews and attempted reforms, including a current MPI review running for the past 16 months, have failed to address fundamental problems and the views of the users of the system: poor system performance, persistent operational bottlenecks, limited capability and escalating costs and complexity that are driving users away from the system.
Coalition spokesperson Paul Paynter, a fifth-generation fruit grower and chief executive of Hawke’s Bay- based Yummy Fruit Company, said the consequences extend far beyond the plant import sector.
“This is not simply an administrative problem. It is a strategic issue affecting innovation, productivity, resilience, and the long-term competitiveness of New Zealand horticulture. Since 2006, MPI has made multiple attempts to fix the system, but every one has failed,” Paynter said.
The coalition formally requested that the minister, to direct MPI officials to meet with coalition representatives to negotiate implementation of the recommendations contained in a memorandum presented during the meeting.
“We have had constructive engagement with the minister, who understands that our group represents the primary importers of plant material,” Paynter said. “Our industry coalition has invested considerable time and eort in developing practical solutions, and we need to move more quickly to implement them.”
