“[Allowing us market access for avocados] is just a matter of simple reciprocity. Whenever a country allows the entry of any commodity, the recipient country harbors the notion that it should also seek to have its produce enter its trading partner’s market,” said Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) Director Clarito M. Barron.
Barron noted the pest-risk analysis protocol for locally produced avocados is still being drafted.
The pest-risk analysis is a sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measure exercised by importing countries such as the Philippines to protect its local farms from pests carried by imported produce or food items.
BPI, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA), noted that a team of South Korean inspectors will visit the Philippines before the end of the first quarter of 2012.
The team of inspectors will be briefed about the SPS measures undertaken by the government to ensure the safety of Philippine fruits and other produce.
Meanwhile, the BPI disclosed that the Philippines and South Korea may sign any time soon the bilateral protocol guidelines for the trade of paprika.
Apart from paprika, South Korea is also seeking to gain access to the Philippine market for its other agricultural produce such as strawberries and broccoli.
Manila, for its part, is seeking to export other fruits such as bananas and durian to South Korea.
The Philippines is also keen on exporting pork and chicken to the South Korean market.
In December, Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said the Philippines may start exporting poultry products to South Korea within the first half of 2012 after Seoul concludes its risk analysis of local poultry products.
Alcala said he has already asked South Korean Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries and Food Suh Kyu Yong to fast track his country’s final analysis of poultry products from the Philippines.
Last year, DA officials met with their counterpart from South Korea to discuss the Korea-Philippines multi-industry cluster project, a possible overseas development assistance cooperation on agriculture and the execution of pest-risk analysis on fresh agriculture products including poultry.
The Philippines has become a preferred provider of chicken products in Asia as the country remains free from the dreaded avian influenza (AI) virus which has crippled poultry industries in Asia and killed scores of humans.
The DA noted that the South Korean market is as huge as the Japanese market which has already relied on the Philippines for its poultry products following the on slaught of the AI virus in Thailand.
