Frutas de Chile requests urgent approval of Bill providing SAG with greater and better tools to combat illegal fruit smuggling
The Chilean fruit sector is on high alert due to a significant increase in active outbreaks of Mediterranean fruit fly, which is causing increasing concern as the start of the new export season approaches.
Antonio Walker, president of the National Agricultural Society (SNA), told The Clinic that the country faced a national agricultural emergency and that he could not remember a greater presence of fruit flies than the one seen today. The illegal cross-border smuggling of food is being blamed for the higher incidence of the pest.
“We have an uncontrolled border, with illegal border crossings that gives rise to these pests and that in response we must inject more resources into the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG),” Walker said.
There are 42 new active outbreaks. The Arica and Parinacota region has 17, making it the most affected. The Coquimbo region follows with nine outbreaks, and the Metropolitan Region and Valparaíso Region with four.
The director of national fruit federation Fedefruta, Víctor Catán, said the cost of dealing with the pest would impact consumer prices. “For cherries, the pest cost us an extra US$20mn last year,” he noted.
Last week, representative of SAG and Frutas de Chile met with the government to discuss ways to tackle the crisis.
Iván Marambio, the president of Frutas de Chile, called on the government to accelerate the passage of a new Bill that would provide SAG with more and better tools to combat illegal food smuggling.
“We are on the verge of starting a new fruit export season, especially for cherries, blueberries, and stonefruit,” Marambio said. “Therefore, we need the Bill to be processed and dispatched in shorter timeframes than usual. We need it to be given the urgency it deserves. SAG needs better tools to do its job and safeguard Chile’s zoological and phytosanitary heritage.”
According to Marco Muñoz, acting head of the agricultural, forestry, and seed protection division at SAG, 95 per cent of the outbreaks are located in urban areas rather than major production areas.
Miguel Canala-Echeverría, general manager of Frutas de Chile, explained: “When a fruit fly outbreak is detected, a quarantine radius is established, which, in the case of China, reaches 27.2km. That is, no fruit found within the radius of where the outbreak was detected can be exported without complying with some mitigation method, such as cold treatment in transit, which increases export costs and puts pressure on logistics”.
Canala-Echeverría noted that fruit and food entering the country illegally are not subject to any type of phytosanitary inspection or certification, and therefore, represent a high risk to the country’s phytosanitary system and its fruit and other food exports, as well as endangering people’s health.
“It’s time to properly communicate everything at stake when acquiring smuggled food. Fruit production is the second largest export sector, behind copper, and contributes significantly to the country’s economy.
“It generates nearly 800,000 direct and indirect jobs and fosters development and growth in regions where fruit growing exists. That is what is at risk here. Hence the importance of expediting the bill,” he said.
