Kiwifruit growers could mount a legal case against the Government's biosecurity agency, in the wake of a review that criticised systems that let in a virus that devastated the industry.
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) released an independent report yesterday which said shortfalls in biosecurity checks and import requirements for kiwifruit and horticultural equipment were largely to blame for the incursion of the bacterial Psa vine disease in 2010.
PSA symptoms were first discovered at a Te Puke orchard in October 2010 and its presence was confirmed by the former Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) two weeks later - but it was too late to stop it spreading to kiwifruit orchards across the top half of the North Island, costing growers millions of dollars.
MAF was too slow to respond once the disease was detected, staff failed to recognise kiwifruit pollen could carry PSA and imports from PSA-affected countries should have been halted.
The report found the import requirements for pollen were inadequate, but said kiwifruit industry body Zespri was also partly to blame for that, recommending better communication between the industry, MPI and researchers in future.
The New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc (NZKGI) group, which represents 2700 growers, is taking legal advice on the report, "to ascertain if we should take any further action", president Neil Trebilco says.
"Many growers have lost all, or part, of their livelihoods as a result of PSA coming into New Zealand. As the grower representative organisation, it is NZKGI's job to consider all possible options for growers impacted by Psa."
The report comes just weeks after a Queensland fruit fly was found in Auckland, and Mr Trebilco says both incidents show how critical it is that biosecurity is properly resourced.
Zespri issued a brief statement yesterday, saying it notes that it and the industry "could have been more proactive with [MAF] in underlining the significance of the threat PSA posed to the New Zealand kiwifruit industry prior to November 2010".
The organisation was considering the review and would discuss it with growers over the coming weeks.
NZN