Banana farm inspections to ease SPS compliance worries

In an effort to ensure compliance with sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards in the Chinese market, the Ministry of Agriculture will send teams to registered banana farms to conduct on-site checks.

The announcement of these inspections follow a statement by the ministry in August urging farmers, owners and exporters to register with the ministry to gain access to technical assistance that will help them achieve compliance with SPS requirements demanded by Chinese buyers.

Ker Monthivuth, director of the plant protection, sanitary and phyto-sanitary department, told Khmer Times the inspections will be conducted in two rounds. First, a team made up of local officials will visit the farms, followed by a group of Chinese experts.

“We are going to conduct evaluations of the registered farms … and we will send our findings to China so that they can also send officials to conduct their own inspections,” Mr Monthivuth said.

So far, five banana farms have registered with the ministry, Mr Monthivuth said, although he did not reveal their names.

Cambodia and China reached a protocol on the exportation of bananas in August, effectively allowing Cambodia to ship the fruit to China. The agreement came after the two sides spent years negotiating on the issue.

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