SA signs export pact with China

IN WHAT has been hailed as a milestone, South Africa has signed a protocol with China to facilitate the export of lemons under a new phytosanitary cold treatment regime.

South Africa has been exporting citrus to China under a protocol that was bilaterally agreed and signed in 2006.

Under this protocol, the potential risk of false codling moth (FCM), a pest of quarantine concern to the People’s Republic of China, was addressed through a cold treatment regime of 24 days at 0.6°C in transit.

The Department of Agriculture Land Reform and Rural Development said one can consider this as a process of disinfestation.

This temperature was not ideal for the shipment of lemons as it affects their quality on arrival and thus low volumes of lemons are currently exported to China.

Lemons were not a host for FCM, the department and the Citrus Research International (CRI) have said and collaborated over a number of years to produce the required scientific justification towards revising the export protocol for Citrus to China.

After the signing, Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza said: “This is another important milestone in our country today.

“It will contribute towards the expansion and growth in the citrus industry which has performed extremely well in the past year. This affirms the government’s commitment towards creating an enabling environment that supports the growth of our agricultural industry and creation of jobs.

“We are indeed pleased that an agreement has been reached with the GACC leading to the revised temperature regime for lemons on the export protocol.

“Under this protocol, cold treatment for lemons will be 3°C or below for not less than 18 consecutive days.”

South Africa looked forward to increasing lemon exports to China, in addition to other citrus exports which reached almost 130 000 metric tons last year.