The Philippines’ push to send bananas to the US is progressing, with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) issuing an import risk analysis (IRA) stating entry may be granted if measures are put in place to address 14 quarantined pests.
The IRA was welcomed by Philippine Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, reported the Inquirer.
“The USDA move brings us one step closer to our goal of providing our local banana growers the opportunity to penetrate the lucrative US mainland market,” he said.
Access to the US is a central part of the Philippines’ wider plan to expand banana exports to several key markets, and was also a theme of a recent visit to the US by a Philippine government delegation.
The IRA was reviewed by the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), which found that some of the quarantined pests identified by the USDA may not be present in the Philippines or would not attack green bananas.
