A new pest management plan is encouraging the government to contribute more money and supplies towards disease control and prevention.

The Ministry of Forestry and Agriculture has developed a 25 year plan to co-ordinate the management of pests, weeds and potential diseases.

Agriculture Minister David Carter says the Government needs to take more responsibility in pest control measures.

"The crown now is fully involved in negotiation as they were, but under the previous governments arrangement the crown could then stand by and watch the private owners be forced to play their part.

"That is fundamentally unfair and i don’t believe we can ask private owners to do one thing and exempt the crown from doing the same.

"What we need is a more efficient way to tackle the problem of weeds and pests throughout New Zealand.

"The development of a plan will give us a very good focus on which pests and weeds nationally we need to focus on and the big change now is the crown is going to be bound to play its part."

Mr Carter says legislation for the plan is before the Primary Production select committee and should be passed before the end of the year.