The Fruit Fly Contingency Working Group has the goal of minimising trade disruption resulting from fruit fly incursions into New Zealand. Summerfruit NZ has been an active participant in the Group, which has two pieces of work that have been, or are nearly, completed. The output is a framework for agreeing how importing countries will respond to fruit fly incursions, and this is under discussion with several key markets.
The second output is directly applicable to growers and packhouses – a fruit fly host material official assurance programme (OAP). This programme is voluntary, but MPI-approved organisations that adopt the OAP into their organisation systems will find it easy to adapt to the traceability and phytosanitary security requirements of a fruit fly incursion. Many other sectors have already adopted the OAP (e.g., apples, kiwifruit), but the summerfruit sector has not widely adopted the programme.
We encourage you to think of this as an insurance policy because the export season is very short. This OAP gives you an opportunity to be prepared.
The OAP can be found at https://www.mpi.govt.nz/export/food/fruit-and-vegetables/official-assurance-programmes/
Photo: Oriental fruit fly, Scott Bauer, ARS – USDA