After Cambodia received approval to export mangoes to China in June, at least 50 mango companies and communities have applied to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for export permits. The agreement called for 500,000 tonnes of mangoes to be exported each year.
Ke Monthivuth is the director of the ministry’s Department of Plant Protection and Phytosanitary Office. He told The Post on Tuesday that based on the agreement, Cambodian companies must register their farms and packaging locations with the General Department of Agriculture and they must be recognised by officials from the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC). Companies that don’t meet these guidelines cannot export their mangoes to China.
Cambodian companies must implement production protocols in accordance with Good Agricultural Practices and must use vapor heat treatments or hot water treatments to sterilise their crops and exterminate pests.
Monthivuth said: “This requires the participation of both local and foreign investors in the construction of steam treatment plants and the hot water treatment plants [for farmers] to sterilise their crops and exterminate pests,” adding that as of this September, the General Department of Agriculture has received applications for registration from mango plantations and packaging locations from a total of 45 community farming companies, plantation owners and farms.