A group of kiwifruit growers met up at the Bay of Plenty to vote in great multitude for accepting a $50 million package for aiding in managing the bacterial disease PSA.

The bacterial disease was discovered on 37 kiwifruit blocks in the three regions of Bay of Plenty, Hawke's Bay and Tasman.

The Government and Zespri, marketer of kiwifruit marketer, both have decided to contribute $25 million each to aid the affected growers.

The chief executive of Zespri, Lain Jager told in the meeting which was attended by over 400 growers in Te Puke on Thursday that even though the financial aid is not very generous, but it is an initiative. This money is only enough to provide for the removal of infected vines from 740 hectares of kiwifruit.

The harsh truth is that Zespri will run out of money once the disease has infected many thousand hectares of kiwifruit.

Most of the growers approved of the financial package and the current urgency is to remove the infected vines.

However, some of the growers feel that merely $25 million from the government was too little for an industry worth more than a billion dollars.