PHL banana experts leaving for China

The Philippine government is sending a team of experts from the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) to China to check on the supposedly insect-infested bananas being blocked by Chinese authorities.

 

The inspection team will fly to China this week, and will be headed by BPI director Clarito Barron.

 

In a statement released by the Department of Agriculture (DA) Tuesday, Barron said they will convince Chinese plant officials that bananas from the Philippines pass rigid quality inspection procedures before they are exported.

 

“We will meet with them to reiterate that bananas imported from our country underwent proper procedures from production to processing, including washing, sorting, and packaging,” Barron added.

 

Chinese agriculture officials had earlier intercepted and blocked 150 40-foot containers of bananas from the country, claiming the fruits were infested by Aonidiella comperei, a type of worm which according to Barron is more commonly found in coconuts.

 

Amid escalating tensions between China and the Philippines over Panatag Shoal, China then extended the inspection to pineapples and papayas.

 

Malacañang, however, dismissed claims that the ban on the country’s bananas were due to the territorial dispute as a mere “regulatory” issue.

 

With the ban, local banana growers have already lost $236,000, or almost P1 billion, in export receipts, according to the DA.

 

Banana is the country’s No. 2 agriculture commodity export after coconuts, earning about $720 million a year. According to the DA, the banana sector directly employs some 240,000 workers.

 

China, meanwhile, is the country’s second-largest market for bananas after Japan.

 

Barron earlier said in a radio interview that the Philippines will look for alternative markets should China continue blocking its agriculture produce.

 

"Sa totoo lang, ang ating prutas lalo ang mangga at ating pinya at papaya, ‘yan gustung-gusto ng ibang bansa. Kaya meron tayong ibang bansa na tinitingnan na pwede iluwas ang produktong ‘yan tulad ng Iran, tulad ng Europe, tulad ng Middle East," Barron said on dzBB radio. —With Ralph Ty/VS, GMA News