After a long process, the construction of an SAG-USDA inspection site for fresh fruit in Bío Bío will finally be a reality. The Fruit Exporters Association of Chile (Asoex) and the regional government signed an agreement on 5 June, by which the trade association gave the State some land located in Cabrero to build the inspection site.
This is to be the first phytosanitary inspection site of fresh fruit and vegetables so that they are certified before being exported to the United States, the main market for Chilean fruit exports, where they ship one third of their fruit exports.
The aforementioned agreement establishes the transfer of 3,622 square meters to the regional government so they can build, via the MOP's Directorate of Architecture, the inspection site within a year and a half. The land had been acquired by Asoex in 2011 with the goal of building said premises to meet the growing demand of the exporters of Bío Bío and Araucanía, which currently must transport their production to Teno (province Curico), thus increasing the costs of freight. According to the schedule, the call for bids will start in July and construction is expected to begin in November.
The joint investment amounts to 2.803 million pesos, 240 million of which correspond to the value of the property contributed by Asoex. The remaining 2.563 million are resources earmarked by the regional government and the SAG for the construction of the site.
The regional director of the SAG, Jaime Peña Cabezon, said that the inspection sites were places where the fresh fruit being sent to the United States was inspected, as part of the pre shipment cooperative agreement between the Ministry of Agriculture of the United States, the Fruit Exporters Association and the SAG, in order to comply with phytosanitary regulations established by the market for the export of fresh horticultural products.
Chile has a total of six inspection sites, which are administered by Asoex and by officials from the SAG and the APHIS, the SAG's American counterpart.
Peña Cabezon highlighted the great opportunity that this site will bring for horticultural producers south of the Maule, especially because many crops have been taken to these latitudes because of the change in climate.
"It's also an opportunity for the ports, because this will boost port development in the area, and it is a stimulus to invest in the export sector," he said.
Source: Diario la Discusión