Last Friday, the National Agrarian Health Service (Senasa) presented its Plant Product Access Action Plan for 2024. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation (Midagri) and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur) to assume commitments so that the prioritized products gain access to their intended markets.
Orlando Dolores Salas, general director of Senasa's Plant Health, said that the pest risk analyses that the importing countries were carrying out of the priority products for this year were very advanced, which means that the access process will be completed this year. To gain access to a market, he stressed, the products must undergo a Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) that is prepared by the phytosanitary authority of the importing country, i.e. Senasa's counterpart. In this context, he emphasized the need for follow-up and support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Mincetur to achieve these accesses.
The products prioritized for access in 2024 include fresh pepper for Argentina, table grapes for Chile, fresh pomegranate, frozen mango, frozen avocado, and blueberries for China, lucuma for Colombia, fresh avocado for Malaysia, aguaymanto, pitahaya, and pomegranate for United States, cut flower hydrangea for Brazil, citrus, and blueberries for New Zealand, and blueberries for Japan. Peru also wants to improve the access of fresh asparagus to the United States by eliminating the fumigation process.
Dolores also said that the process to open the Chinese market to Peruvian frozen mango, avocado, and blueberries has been pending since 2018; that the COVID-19 pandemic affected its progress, but that it's currently being resumed. He added that the opening of the Chilean market to table grapes was practically complete and that Senasa had already shared the requirements to open Vietnam to the country's citrus fruits but that there were some pending adjustments, such as cold treatment. In the case of blueberries for Japan, progress is rapid.
In addition, Senasa is working in collaboration with the Association of Peruvian Hass Avocado Producers and Exporters (ProHass) to determine which avocado varieties are not hosts of the fruit fly to open the US market to new varieties of avocado. There's also interest and efforts being made at the government level to resume grape and onion exports to Ecuador.
Dolores highlighted the importance of the coordinated work with the Association of Agricultural Producers Guilds of Peru (AGAP) and its members, who participated in last Friday's meeting, to agree on the list of prioritized products. He underlined the guilds' willingness to accelerate these processes and said they expected their accompaniment in the bilateral meetings planned for this year.
Source: agraria.pe