By Jessica Rowe
New Zealand potato growers are fighting a double-edged scourge that's killing off their crops. Growers are struggling to deal with a tiny foreign invader, the tomato and potato psyllid, which can damage potato plants above and below the ground.
"I'm very concerned for our own business as far as the increased ongoing cost that we are looking at facing to deal with potato psyllid," potato grower Robin Oakley. "We're not sure how much more it is going to get established.."
First detected here five years ago, the psyllid damages crops by feeding on the leaves turning them yellow and passing on a bacterial pathogen that greatly reduces crop yield.
It also makes potatoes turn an unsightly brown when cooked and that's unacceptable to processors like chip makers.
It costs potato growers on average $700 to spray one hectare of potato plants and the industry says this is unsustainable.
In 2008 a particularly bad infestation also cost the industry $50 million.
"The New Zealand potato industry has never had anything as bad as what the potato psyllid is," Mr Oakley says.
The Government has so far contributed less than two million dollars to find the disease.
"We are prepared to help," says Biosecurity Minister David Carter. "But what we want to do is engage constructively with the industry and try and find ways which the industry can also contribute. This is not an entirely a tax payer responsibility. It is also a responsibility for potato growers."
The pest mainly affects commercial varieties of potatoes that are processed into chips and crisps, and the disease isn't expected to affect the price of potatoes we eat.
3 News