NORTH HOLLYWOOD >> A medfly quarantine for San Fernando Valley citrus is now preventing at least 100,000 pounds of backyard oranges and other fruit from being harvested for needy residents.

Officials at Food Forward, a nonprofit that harvests surplus fruit for the poor, say the loss is impacting thousands of hungry residents at food pantries across Southern California.

“About 100,000 pounds of backyard produce will not be available to us — and to folks in need,” said Rick Nahmias, executive director of the North Hollywood-based charity. “We’re talking mostly oranges, grapefruits and lemons and tangerines. And avocados.

“We have (the rest of) Los Angeles and its abundance to make up for this … We need people to help. We need them to donate.”

State agriculture officials late last year imposed a 101-square mile quarantine that limited the movement of fruit and produce across much of the San Fernando Valley after Mediterranean fruit flies were found in Panorama City and Arleta.

The quarantine stretches from the Van Norman reservoir in Sylmar south to Cal State Northridge to the 101 Freeway and east to Burbank and the 210 Freeway.

The medfly infestation zone covers up to 70 percent of the Valley and was expected to continue from the end of the citrus harvest season in June.

To prevent the spread of fruit flies via infested homegrown fruits and vegetables, the California Department of Food and Agriculture has urged residents not to move any fruits or vegetables from their property, though such fruit may be consumed or processed at home.

For this reason, the backyard bounty normally harvested by Food Forward could not be harvested and distributed to such food pantries as SOVA in Van Nuys or MEND in Pacoima, Nahmias said.

Since it was founded eight years ago, the charity has collected more than 30 million pounds of donated fruits and vegetables from backyards, wholesale and farmers’ markets in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. This year, it expects to serve 1.25 million needy residents through hundreds of social service agencies across Southern California.

About 300,000 pounds of backyard produce is harvested each year by thousands of trained and insured volunteers, Nahmias said. Of that, a third will go unharvested in the Valley this year because of the state agricultural medfly quarantine.

The loss will include up to 25,000 pounds of oranges from CSUN’s historic grove.

Anyone outside the quarantine zone who wishes to donate their surplus backyard produce can sign up at www.foodforward.org.

“What we’re hoping is that people in Burbank, people in Woodland Hills and people in West L.A. will engage,” Nahmias said.