Quality issues hit agri shipments

After Saudi ban on chili import from India due to pesticide residue, Russia finds pest infestation in potato import; Apeda warns exporters

Russia has warned of stringent action, including a ban, on import of potatoes from India, due to violation of their quality norms.

Their authorised agency in this regard, the Federal Services for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (FSVPS), has told the Union agriculture ministry that Russian authorities have intercepted 23 consignments of Indian potatoes with pests and disease. With an estimated 29 tonnes in each consignment, this is about 700 tonnes impounded.

“These consignments have not been rejected so far. Only the affected portion has been taken out. For now, it does not pose any threat for spilling over problems to other European countries. But, it raises a serious concern on export of Indian agriculture products,” said Santosh Sarangi, chairman of the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda). An agency under the ministry of agriculture, it has issued an advisory to agri exporters on the need to follow quality norms specified by importing countries.

For phytosanitary and pest issues, Apeda has ordered exporters to get certificates from warehouses approved by it for acceptance in destination countries. FSVPS has, for one, said it wouldn’t accept further shipments without this and has also doubled the sampling intensity for Indian potato export to Russia.

“Other countries might (on this news) see India’s agri exports with serious quality concerns,” apprehends Sarangi.

Agriculture topped India’s export basket in 2013-14. Agri export zoomed to $45 billion in 2013-14 from $25 bn in 2011-12. Potato export to Russia rose sharply to 240,000 tonnes in 2013-14.

“We have advised exporters not to make any shipment of potatoes to the Russian Federation violating the stipulated condition. Any deviation from the procedure stipulated under this advisory would be viewed seriously and the onus of the consequences will solely be on the defaulting exporters,” said Sarangi. Since quality norms differ from one country to another, Indian exporters do not follow country-wise specifications unless these are specified.“Now, the onus lies with the Russian authorities to provide us a list of required quality certificates from Indian exporters, which we will certainly follow,” said Ajit Shah, president, Horticulture Exporters Association.

Recently, in a similar incident, Saudi Arabia had banned import of green chilli from India after incerception of higher than permissible levels of pesticide residues in consignments there. “We are in touch with the authorities there, trying to convince them about dealing with quality issues in future. We have assured them about all vegetable export routing through Apeda, with pesticide residue certificates issued by laboratories approved by us. We hope chilli exports to the Middle East would re-commence soon,” said Sarangi.