Australia puts Philippine bananas under scrutiny
The Philippines is prepared to comply with Australia’s import requirements after Canberra launched a formal assessment of locally produced bananas from the Philippines.
Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) Director Gerald Glenn Panganiban said the Australian government is “open to receiving” banana exports. But he could not provide a timeline for when Manila may secure market access.
Nonetheless, Panganiban said the agency is “always moving forward and progressing.”
“We are pushing for a holistic way [of] sanitizing our farms, implementing our Philippine Good Agricultural Practices and … following our protocols before export,” he told reporters.
Currently, Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) is assessing alternative measures for biosecurity covering fresh Cavendish bananas from the Philippines.
The DAFF initiated the process after the Philippines requested to consider alternative measures to manage the three main pathogens of concern. These were identified in the 2008 import risk analysis report for Philippine bananas.
The Australian agency’s comprehensive scientific assessment will cover the Moko, black Sigatoka and banana freckle diseases.
The evaluation also includes Manila’s request to include the cultivar known as Formosana as an additional export and Davao de Oro as an additional origin of cargoes.
The DAFF will review the 2008 import risk analysis to ensure the assessments of other pests are still appropriate and determine whether any new biosecurity risks have emerged since then.
Australia reaffirmed its commitment to upholding its biosecurity status.
“We will only agree to alternative measures if our assessment concludes the measures effectively manage the biosecurity risks to achieve Australia’s appropriate level of protection,” the DAFF said on its website.
