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Plant Improvement Act, 1976 (Act No. 53 of 1976)

Notices

South African Seed Potato Certification Scheme

8. Regulated pests

 

(1) A grower shall notify the authority of the occurrence or presumed occurrence of regulated pests on—
(a) a unit;
(b) land within the isolation area from a unit; or
(c) land under  his or  her control  upon which  crops  are  being cultivated  or  are  going to  be cultivated.

 

(2) A unit shall be regarded as a presumably infected unit if—
(a) it is situated on property upon which a regulated pest occurs or had occurred;
(b) it is situated on property adjacent to or within 50 metres of a property upon which a regulated pest occurs or had occurred;
(c) it is situated on property where livestock occurs, and such livestock previously had access to land upon which a regulated pest occurs or had occurred and the authority regards such livestock as carriers of the regulated pest;
(d) seed potatoes on the unit concerned originated from an origin which is or was infected with a regulated pest;
(e) water that flows over the unit originates from land upon which a regulated pest occurs or had occurred;
(f) the unit is irrigated with water which flows off land upon which a regulated pest occurs or had occurred;
(g) the plants that occur on the unit may be infected with a regulated pest; or
(h) equipment that has previously been used for the cultivation of land, upon which a regulated pest occurs or has occurred, is used on the unit concerned, without decontamination thereof.

 

(3)

(a) If, in the case of an uncovered plot of land, a regulated pest occurs on the property or an adjacent property, the unit must be surrounded by an isolation area in which no host plants specified in Table 1 or plants of Solanum tuberosum L. may occur.
(b) The isolation area shall be at least 50 metres wide or as wide as the authority may determine after inspection.

 

(4) Equipment used in soil that is infected with a regulated pest may not be used again for the cultivation of seed potatoes unless it has been effectively decontaminated.

 

(5) If a regulated pest has been detected on or in a unit,—
(a) no plants of Solanum tuberosum L.; and
(b) in the case of Ralstonia spp., no crop plants specified in Table 1;

may be planted on or in the unit for a period of 8 years unless the authority determines otherwise.

 

(6) Soya beans (Glycine max (L.)) and oilseed rape (Brassica napus (L).) may not be planted in the crop rotation or isolation area during the eight-year withholding period of host plants of bacterial wilt on a unit that previously tested positive for bacterial wilt.

 

(7) For purposes of testing for Golden Cyst Nematode (Globodera rostochiensis),
(a) all fields located in the Sandveld production area as well as fields not previously sampled in the Ceres district, intended for registration under the Scheme, must be sampled, unless the authority determines  otherwise; and
(b) the authority may from time to time determine that any other field in another location must be sampled as well.