The Ministry of Agriculture is set to conduct a study on the phytosanitary requirements to export durian to China in the near future.

After bananas and then mangoes, longan is set to be the third fresh Cambodian fruit to be officially exported directly to the Chinese market, and a list of other agricultural products – including durians – are expected to follow in the years to come.

But to the dismay of agriculture sector players, Chinese authorities only consider a single product per country at a time to import, in a process that requires phytosanitary and other inspections.

Although durian is a strong contender for the fourth spot on the list, it is not yet clear if the government will push the pungent, spiky fruit through the process after longan.

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Veng Sakhon on January 29 conducted a field visit to a durian farm in Krasaing village, Teuk Chrov commune, Dambe district, Tbong Khmum province.

Speaking at the orchard, Sakhon instructed the General Directorate of Agriculture to get in touch with Chinese customs to research the technical and legal document, procedural and phytosanitary requirements related to the direct shipment of Cambodian durians to China.

“We should work with mango exporters and yellow banana distributors to gain more insight into the possibility of exporting Cambodian durian to the Chinese market in the near future.

“Additionally, the General Directorate of Agriculture needs to update data on durian cultivation areas and yields throughout the country, and keep tabs – for research purposes – on techniques for cultivation, disease- and pest-control, and processing that comply with Cambodia Good Agricultural Practices [CamGAP], especially standards concerning export markets,” he said.

The minister spotlighted durian as a crop with high economic potential that requires sophisticated care to maximise production – from planting to pruning and disease- and pest-control – contingent on the number of fruits per tree and age, as well as soil management practices such as fertilising and watering.

Fresh durian was China’s highest-imported fruit in 2020, accounting for 22.4 per cent of the country’s total fruit imports, Mallika Boonmeetrakool Mahasook, an adviser to the Thai commerce minister said, according to The Nation.

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Author: Hom Phanet

Source: The Phnom Penh post

Publication date: 01 February 2022