On Wednesday, March 27, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (Aphis, in English), attached to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), published the document “Pest Risk Assessment-Importation of Hass Avocado from Guatemala to the United States for Consumption,” which means a key step for the admission of this product in the short term.
Although it is recognized that Mexico has a 90% share in the US fruit market, Guatemalan exporters are already working to establish and position a country brand to compete with quality.
In this context, Luis Teo, president of the Avocado committee of the Guatemalan Association of Exporters (Agexport) explained what entrepreneurs in the sector must do before the indicated market opens, since we still have to wait around 60 days for Know if there are comments on the phytosanitary standard.
The specialist indicated that for the moment, the pest count and visits by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food (Maga) to the producing farms have begun, so that they are adjusted to the process, since «changes must be made both on the farm and in plants, to comply with US regulations.”
Then he clarifies that it is important to understand the rules required by the North American government and, if necessary, get advice because these are large investments, especially in the packaging part to be able to export.
He cited as an example that on this topic there will be specialized chambers -modules- and specific areas for the fruit that goes to the United States; product reception areas only for that destination, as well as refrigeration equipment.
«In Guatemala there is the capacity to meet the requirements required by the North American market and there are many companies that can meet the required standards, so we will have to compete with quality,» he stressed.
For the next five years, an industry is envisioned that will continue to grow “because there are thousands of hectares that will begin production in the next five years, so there will also be more exporters.”
«We can be more agile to be able to reach the US, and there may be a redirection since many companies are going to pay more attention to it»
Luis Teo, president of the Aguacate committee, Agexport
When asked how to understand the US market, the manager said that “we will have to be cautious, since it is the largest market in the world and 90% is monopolized by Mexico, apart from the fact that the product arrives from the export plants to the border in less than 20 hours.”
In this regard, some logistical challenges will have to be assumed, despite the fact that it will not reach the level of Mexico, even if production and export volume grow. For example, maritime transit times from Guatemala to Florida are three days, while for Europe they are 25.
“We can be more agile to be able to reach the US, and there may be a redirection since many companies are going to pay more attention, try to grow, build the market and a country brand to differentiate the quality, although in volume and price you can’t do much,» he concluded.
Next steps
The Maga authorities also provided an overview of what will come in the short term: Jorge Gómez, director of Plant Health of the Vice Ministry of Agricultural Health and Regulations (Visar) explained that first the 60 days that Aphis opened for observations must pass. from interested sectors around the world. In other words, any country that considers Guatemala as competition can speak out.
In addition, you must work on an operational plan, which is the responsibility and obligation of each of the three parties involved:
- El Maga through the Plant Health Directorate, which is in charge of carrying out inspections in the field, in the plant and certifying all the product that will be exported. To carry out the inspection, all interested farms must comply with the requirements that Aphis is raising, register the farms, the packing plants and the free production sites or places, where there should be no pests. This refers to a standard of the International Plant Protection Convention.
- The production units that are in the work plan, which must undergo audits and monitoring by Maga.
- The producers, who are responsible for taking all measures within each productive unit. If there is any pest in any plantation, it cannot be exported and the producer will be in charge of eradicating it.
The technician indicated that after concluding the observation period (next May 28), there will be another period to review all the observations received and wait for the date to start the operational work plan.
Gómez assured that the measures are not complicated and the reference document mentions a “buffer zone”, which is the distance between each of the farms, which must also be free of pests.
That is what has been asked of Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and all the countries with which an operational work plan has been signed.
For large and medium-sized units it will be much easier, but for smaller units it will be a little complicated because there may be backyard trees around them, which do not have any control, but this is part of the standard that must be worked on.
What is it?
The action plan is very general in indicating that each farm is responsible for pest control, apart from the roles and responsibilities of each of the participants.
Other components are non-compliance, suspension and termination of the agreement at a certain time, audits and redirection of the program.
