Saturday, November 18, 2006 Mayor wants gaps on veggies importation addressed
NO AMOUNT of assurance could convince local stakeholders of the vegetable industry that importation of vegetables would not adversely affect the farmers, said La Trinidad Mayor Nestor Fongwan.
Fongwan doubted that the entry of imported crops, particularly Chinese commodities, into the country would not hurt local growers despite the Bureau of Plant Industry's (BPI) repeated assurance.
Even with the conduct of the Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) on vegetables proposed by China to be exported to the country, the mayor said there are still gaps that need to be addressed.
Fongwan is a member of the Benguet Vegetable Council (BVC), which opposed the conduct of PRA on certain Chinese crops, saying the completion of the analysis was "expeditiously" done.
The inclusion of plant experts from Benguet in the PRA team that went to China last September to assess and observe production areas of vegetables requested for market access by China, did not convince Fongwan of the need to allow importation of Chinese crops.
Fongwan said the farms and names of individual-farmers who would supply the country with their crops should be specified for tracking purposes. He said the areas visited by the PRA team were corporate farms, which result in excellent remarks regarding the vegetable production in China.
"The places visited were corporate farms, which naturally persuade the team that we will be acquiring the finest crops, but I don't think the vegetables grown in these farms would be the ones imported to us. What will enter our country are those produced by individual growers and we want the specific list of these growers and the areas of their farms," he said.
The BPI, in a letter to Fongwan, said it only agreed to the importation of three crops -- carrots, potato and ginger.
The drafting of guidelines for the importation of carrots, the consultation with stakeholders and the finalization of the administrative order on protocol for importation is scheduled for completion this year.
Fongwan said the consultation should not be for mere compliance sake. All the comments and recommendations of local stakeholders should be incorporated in the PRA, and if there is a need to revise the result, then authorities should comply. (JC)
