In the inspection sites of Cabrero, Teno and Lo Herrera, more than 400 boxes of blueberries from Biobío and Ñuble have been certified.

More than 400 boxes of blueberries, from the Biobío and Ñuble regions, have been inspected by the Agricultural and Livestock Service, SAG, under the Systems approach system, thus far exceeding the expectations set. It should be noted that this measure was approved by the United States Department of Agriculture in October of last year, only one month after the start of harvest, which did not allow all producers to have access to this option, which came to allow entry of this product to the US market without fumigation with methyl bromide.

In this sense, the Minister of Agriculture, María Emilia Undurraga, highlighted that “after 4 years of negotiations this Systems approach was approved, so today 121 producers from Biobío and Ñuble can export without losing the quality of the fruit or the condition organic, since fumigation is not required as previously requested. We are very happy because this system is working very well on the farms, with the samples taken at source, as well as at the joint inspection sites that we have with the United States. In this last place, the phytosanitary and documentary inspection process is carried out for blueberries from those regions ”.

He added that as of January 31, 2021, 28% of the total inspections that have been carried out this season at the Lo Herrera, Teno and Cabrero inspection sites correspond to blueberries from the Biobío and Ñuble regions.

For his part, the National Director of SAG, Bórquez Schedule, indicated that the highest number of inspections has been carried out at the Cabrero site, reaching one million boxes under this program. “When comparing the same period with last season, we have inspected 100 more boxes of blueberries, most of which correspond to orchards in Biobío and

Ñuble, those that before the approval of this Systems approach could not be inspected, a product that the only alternative that existed until that date was the fumigation with methyl bromide in origin or destination ”.

Bórquez explained that “in the Ñuble region, more than 850 thousand boxes of blueberries from orchards that signed up for the Systems approach have been sampled for their respective on-site inspection. The implementation of these pest management measures on the farms has represented a great challenge for producers, plants and SAG staff. Today we see with satisfaction the results of the commitment of all the actors in this chain ”.

The Systems approach is a set of pest risk management measures that guarantees the phytosanitary conditions imposed by the United States as an alternative to fumigation with methyl bromide, among which are that blueberries may only be processed in exclusive facilities or that have a specific packaging line physically separated by a mesh, in order to avoid contamination with fruit from orchards that have not adopted these risk mitigation measures. Safeguards should also be applied to transportation, as trucks that transport blueberries from orchards under this program must be closed or guarded. In addition, the reception of the fruit in the establishments must be carried out with safeguards, while its storage is also carried out in exclusive chambers or that are divided.

It is expected that for the next season a greater number of producers will be able to access this new option for the export of blueberries to the United States.