Instant access to pest list



Efforts to export Pacific Islands fruit and vegetables took a step forward on May 24 with the opening of an online information system for easier trade amongst Pacific Islands countries and between them and foreign markets.

Tongan mangoes being packed for exports.

The system gives importers instant access to Pacific Islands pest lists-a vital first step to begin trade in a specific commodity.

A French importer who wants to buy noni from Samoa can go online for Samoa's pest list and then start negotiations.

Previously, each Pacific Islands country had its own pest list. The latest on pest threats is now shared online.

The Pacific Islands Pest List Database (PIPLD), as it is called, is the creation of the Plant Protection Service of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).

It is a landmark development for the Suva headquartered Land Resources Division (LRD), a revamped technical arm of SPC that covers previously independent agriculture and forestry projects.

The development of country pest lists was begun under the leadership of information systems specialist Richard Vernon, who has since left SPC.

He was also instrumental in the initial planning of the Pacific Islands Pest List Database (PIPLD), which was further developed and tested by LRD information assistants Makelesi Kora-Gonelevu and Sarah Pene.

The on-line information database is open access and read-only. Updating of pest records is restricted to country administrators of the database and the LRD information team. Records on the system will be constantly updated from pest and disease surveys conducted by SPC and from other authenticated sources.

Kora-Gonelevu said if it had existed then, PIPLD would have greatly benefitted Fiji in 2003 when it wanted to import coconuts from Tonga after Cyclone Ami.

“Fiji could have contacted the Tongan Quarantine, who would look up the Tonga Pest List Database (PLD) for their list of pests of coconut and either fax or email this list to Fiji Quarantine. That process would normally have taken a couple of days. The PIPLD would have enabled Fiji Quarantine to go online and be briefed on pests in Tonga.”

'WE CAN GROW OWN VEGETABLES' Malum Nalu Major vegetable buyer and wholesaler Alele Farm Fresh Produce has fired a broadside at major supermarkets such as the Andersons Foodland and Boroko Food World for importing vegetables which can be grown in Papua New Guinea. “We're very annoyed about that,” general manager Graham Ross said at the PNG Coffee Festival and Trade Fair in Goroka. Ross used last month's coffee festival to introduce his new brands of packed compost, as well as his Pati Kalana Rice, grown in the Central Province. The compost brands-Seed Raising Compost, Vegetable Compost and Quick Gro Compost-are made in the Western Highlands from vegetable and animal manure. They were released last November and are being sold in Brian Bell outlets throughout the country. Sir Brian Bell has given the thumbs-up to the new products with regular orders, as well as PNG gardener Justin Tkatchenko. “Justin has used it and he's very happy with it,” Ross said. “He is right behind the product. Compost is a new fertiliser for PNG made in Hagen from vegetable waste, chicken manure, cow manure, etc. It's taken us about five years of trialling.” The compost was used to grow the famous 86-kilogramme pumpkin in Hagen last year, which was later displayed at the Morobe Show. “We're growing potatoes using the compost and we've got one kilogramme potatoes which are very large. “We've also approached NARI (National Agricultural Research Institute) and said that we'd like them to do trials with the compost. There's also a probability that the forestry people may start using this as a planting material for their trees. “It may also be used for rehabilitation of mining sites such as Porgera and Lihir. “We're excited about it. We know it's good, and we're glad to teach farmers in PNG how to use it.” Meanwhile, Alele has quietly been growing Pati Kalana Rice at Hula in the Central Province for the last five years in paddy fields.The rice is sold at the company's warehouse in Port Moresby. “There's a big future for rice growing in the Central Province,” Ross said. “It's becoming very popular right now.” Alele is based in Hagen, with plans to set up later in Goroka and Kainantu. It transports its vegetables by road to Lae and to other parts of the country. Alele has its own fleet of trucks and carries out its own extension work, especially on potatoes. It also assists with small loans to farmers.

Other uses for the new system, apart from facilitating trade, include supplying a list of host plants for a given pest. This is a requirement necessary for carrying out an import risk analysis, another trade procedure.

The system has a mapping feature to show regional and national distribution of a pest. It contains taxonomic data and photographs of each pest.

The SPC Plant Protection Service covers Samoa, Tonga, Niue, French Polynesia, Fiji Islands, American Samoa, Cook Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands,

LRD trainers have run extensive training courses on country pest list operations to equip national staff with skills needed to maintain their own country pest lists.

The new system meets requirements set by the International Plant Protection Convention, the World Trade Organisation and an international agreement on sanitary and phytosanitary Measures (or SPS Agreement).

The SPC's plant protection service is backed financially by the European Union, Australia and New Zealand aid funds.