To protect the banana-producing areas in Mexico, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA) amended the phytosanitary measures to combat moko disease and prevent further dissemination. The amendments were published as the Official Mexican Standard NOM-068-PHYTO-2000 on the Official Journal of the Federation (DOF), which are open to stakeholders for public consultation.
Banana producers that occupy a total 75,337 ha in Campeche, Colima, Chiapas, Guerrero, Jalisco, Estado de Mexico, Michoacan, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Veracruz, and Yucatan will benefit from the phytosanitary measures.
According to the Agricultural Information Service and Fisheries (SIAP), annual banana production reached 2,208,651 tons, wherein 135,456 tons were exported. The industry requires intense labor and generated jobs during production, harvesting, processing, and marketing.
Because the regulations were first published on April 21, 2000, they are inadequate to address the current agronomic and phytosanitary situation. An update is necessary to mitigate damage caused by the disease in areas where it is present and to protect areas without presence.
Among the measures are implementing more effective and efficient agronomic management techniques that will improve postharvest conditions of fruits, meeting national and international market standards. It is also possible to detect and control the disease at pre-harvest, which will reduce the risk of spread of the disease and the upregulation of the mobilization of host it.
With the Montreal Protocol agreement to reduce the application methyl bromide for the control of banana moko, the new measures will use safe biological control agents to control the disease.
Derived from the update to the Federal Plant Protection Act published in the Official Gazette on 26 July 2007, the draft modified, added, and removed some parts of the NOM-068-PHYTO-2000 and some definitions and the activities undertaken by verification units and authorized plant protection professionals.
Importantly, the new rules are consistent with international standards and relates to phytosanitary control aspects of the production, manufacturing, marketing, and transportation of banana.
Source: Digital News Agency