THE government must appeal to Japan and South Korea to put on hold their implementation of stringent food standards for fruit imports, which could hurt small farmers, fruit exporters said on Thursday.
Roberto C. Amores, president of the Philippine Food Processors and Exporters Organization Inc. (Philfoodex), told the BusinessMirror that farmers would incur “huge losses” once Japan and South Korea implement the zero maximum-residue limit (MRL) on mangoes and bananas by next year.
“Our exports will be limited, because if the pesticide laboratories of importing countries find that our exports violate their MRL standards, they will just throw away Philippine shipments,” said Amores, who is also the president of the Philippine Mango Exporters Foundation Inc.
“It’s a question of bilateral talk between the concerned governments,” he added.
Amores warned that small farmers and farm workers could lose their livelihood once the MRL takes effect on January 1, 2017. “Exports would go down, production will be cut and there would be unemployment.”
The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech), an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture, said South Korea and Japan has earlier announced that they would implement zero MRL on tropical fruit imports by next year.
MRL—the maximum concentration of pesticide residue which is legally permitted in food and animal feeds—is usually recommended by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
FAO added that the limits are based on good agricultural practices data and food derived from commodities that comply with the respective MRLs are intended to be toxicologically acceptable.
A zero MRL means that there should be no trace of fungicide or pesticide use in agricultural products.
The Japan Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW), which oversees the MRL standards of Japan, has published five MRL amendment proposals and three MRL standards amendments since January 2016. According to the Global MRL Database by Bryant Christie Inc., a market research firm specializing on global trade policies, the proposals eliminate MRL standards previously set on pesticides use on tropical fruits.
More than 75 pesticides will be eliminated from the previous MRL standards set by Japan-MHLW, meaning a 0.01 part per million (ppm) MRL shall apply to all the concerned pesticides.
Some of the pesticides identified by Japan-MHLW were chinomethionat, cyflumetofen, imicyafos, mepanipyrim, proheaxdione-calcium, saflufenacil and abamaectin.
There are at least 230 recognized agricultural chemicals applied to bananas and mangoes in Japan, according to the Japan Food Chemical Research Foundation.
The Japan-MHLW has notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) thrice regarding their MRL amendment proposals, according to Global MRL Database.
The Korea Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (FDA) announced earlier that it will overhaul their existing MRL system and would adopt a positive list system (PLS) as importation measures starting 2017. The Korea-FDA said will only use the national Korean MRLs previously identified and if a certain pesticide is not under the said system, then the 0.01 ppm standard will apply.
According to the Korea-FDA, 39 out of 44 MRL on bananas and 28 of the 31 identified MRL on mangoes will be converted to the 0.01 ppm limit.
Amores explained that only “some pesticides” applied to bananas and mangoes were affected by the MRL system amendments by the two countries. He added that these pesticides are the “strong” pesticides that are used by most, if not all, mango and banana farmers in the Philippines.
He said at least 51 percent of the mango farmers in the country are small stakeholders who cannot comply with the strict pesticide limit measure. Since they are “backyard farmers,” Amores said they will find it difficult to comply with the more stringent requirements of importing countries.
“Other mango farmers who are commercial growers can easily comply with the pesticide residue rule because of their more professional approach in farming. However, not all of them can pass the MRL set by Japan and South Korea,” he said.
The stringent MRL would also hurt 35 percent of banana growers who own small farms.
“The government failed to give assistance to our fruit growers, such as the provision of fertilizers, postharvest technologies and even harvesting and farming equipment,” Amores said.
PhilMech Executive Director Dionisio G. Alvindia said the agency is developing nonchemical approaches, such as the use of biocontrol agents, organic salts and food additives. Alvindia added these approaches are safe alternatives to fungicides and pesticides.
“It’s panic time for the industries. Starting January next year, the Korean and Japanese markets won’t accept our fruits with funcide and it’s final according to them. I don’t know if they will give us extension,” he said.
Alvindia said China may follow Japan and Korea in implementing a more stringent MRL for fruit imports.
According to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, Japan and South Korea were the top buyers of Philippine bananas last year. Japan purchased 605,492 MT of locally grown bananas valued at $277 million, while South Korea imported 212,083 MT valued at $890.99 million.
Of the 12,991 MT of fresh mangoes exported by the Philippines last year, Japan bought 415 MT valued at $729,417, while South Korea purchased 3,299 MT valued at $6.84 million.