DA to upgrade fruit packaging facilities

MANILA, Philippines - The agriculture department plans to upgrade packaging facilities for fruits to be shipped to other countries to ensure that the country’s exports are of good quality.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala told reporters that the department is currently in talks with fruit exporters to determine which packaging facilities need to be upgraded.

“It looks like the contamination (of exports) is coming from the packaging of small exporters so the best solution is for us to help them,” he said.

He said the department would shoulder the cost of the upgrade of the facilities as a form of assistance for small fruit exporters.

The department, he said would allot P450,000 to P500,000 for the upgrade of one packaging facility.

A source said Malacañang has also approved an additional budget of P50 million for the project. The additional budget would come from the President’s Social Fund.

Last week, Alcala said the team sent by the agriculture department to China had found some insects in 200 containers of bananas from the Philippines.

The containers found to have small scale insects and other bugs confirmed the claims made by China earlier that it had found pests in bananas and mealybugs in papayas and pineapples shipped from the Philippines.

China had tightened requirements for the entry of fruits from the Philippines through the conduct of a 100 percent inspection of all shipments.

Prior to finding insects and bugs in fruit exports from the Philippines, Chinese quarantine officials just had to check the phytosanitary clearance issued by quarantine officials here for the shipments.

A phytosanitary clearance is issued by the country of origin for the commodity to indicate that such commodity meets import requirements.

Alcala said that apart from the upgrade of the packaging facilities, the department is also making sure that fruit exports are thoroughly checked before being shipped overseas.

He said earlier some 190 containers of Cavendish bananas from the Philippines have been allowed to enter China.

Most of the cleared banana shipments, he said, were from big fruit exporters.

He also said the department is looking for possible supply agreements with Cambodia, Singapore and Japan for fruit shipments.

The three countries are being eyed as they are considered ideal markets for small growers and exporters due to their proximity to the Philippines.