Chilean Psa cases have doubled
Chile's Agriculture and Livestock Service (SAG) has announced 16 new positive detections of kiwifruit disease Psa in orchards in the VII (Maule) and VIII (Biobio) regions of the country. 
SAG has urged growers outside these areas to adopt preventative measures to contain he disease's spread, with a work plan that includes strict controls in the movement of plant materials and people.
It said the work plan should also involve the disinfection of tools and enabling footbaths for workers. SAG has pledged it will strengthen its phytosanitary measures in positive orchards and areas at risk.
"It is therefore essential that all growers adopt preventative measures and make urgent contact with SAG to inform themselves about the disease and control strategies, so that they can adopt the necessary management plans," SAG said in a release.
Chilean Kiwifruit Committee general manager Carlos Cruzat told www.freshfruitportal.com Maule - where 29 of the 30 cases are located - accounted for 45% of the country's production of the fruit.
"Out of these 30 detections, 28 are in the province of Linares in Maule so it's very focused in one area - the quantity of detections is not extremely high, it's within the range we were expecting, but it does call for more active working efforts," he said.
"The problem is that it is in a zone where there is a lot of production, so work needs to be done on the part of the government and growers to contain it.
"When you have rules you have to make sure they are met to strictly control the movement of plant material, vehicles, machinery and people - We need to make sure that if Psa is in one part of an orchard that it is contained in that part of the orchard."
He said Chile still had the opportunity to control the bacteria from reaching specific areas.
"Chile has some positive orchards with the disease in its first stage with very low intensity, but next year it will probably be more intense; from what's been seen in New Zealand and Italy it can be very aggressive in some orchards."
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