By PortalPortuario Editorial Staff
@PortalPortuario
He Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela Van Treekmaintained that Chili has achieved a “historic and definitive” advance, which would allow the table grapes advance in the desire to be able to export towards the market of state Joined without the need to fumigate the fruit product.
“There is a historic and definitive advance for Chile to export our table grapes to the United States without methyl bromide, which causes it to lose quality and price; and that it is very important for the regions of Valparaíso, Coquimbo and Atacama,” indicated Valenzuela.
“Table grapes are the second most important fruit in our exports and a chain of enormous economic development for the regions; So, this is a definitive step,” said the Chilean authority Valenzuela about the new progress of the Systems approach after a video call he had with the United States Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.
This system replaces fumigation with methyl bromide with a series of mitigation measures, at origin, improving the quality and condition of the fruit in the destination market, allowing it to achieve a competitive position compared to table grapes from other countries that do not require such process.
The agreement comes after 22 years of negotiations between the Ministry of Agriculture, the unions, the Regional Governments and Frutas de Chile that will allow table grapes to be exported with better quality conditions for the benefit of consumers and producers.
He national director of the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG), José Guajardo, explained that “we have been working for a long time, since 2000 and these are the final steps and we are giving clear signals that we are going to achieve it now and reciprocally, we are going to receive and authorize the entry of blueberries against the season. “They are great steps for our agriculture.”
The deputy director of SAG Operations also participated in the meeting, Rodrigo Sotomayor; the head of International Affairs of Odepa, Gabriel Layseca; Chile’s agricultural attaché in the United States, Andrew Rodriguez and the geographical coordinator of America of Odepa, javiera Pefaur.
On the other hand, the private sector valued this announcement. He president of Frutas de Chile, Iván Marambiocommented that “it fills us with joy and hope because this system will allow us to improve our shipments and our competitiveness in the main destination market for our grapes, which is the United States, since it replaces fumigation with an inspection system, which favors condition and quality of the fruit.
“Today, 61% of the total volumes of fresh grapes exported to the world are received by the US and of that amount, more than 35% originate in the regions that will benefit from the Systems Approach; areas that, in addition, have been suffering from a serious drought,” he said, he concluded.
