MoU signed to train quarantine officers on methy bromide fumigation

Ishara MUDUGAMUWA

Sri Lanka's Agriculture Department and Australian Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Department signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Co-operative Bio Security initiatives.

Participating in the MOU signing held at Hilton Hotel, Sri Lanka's Agriculture Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardane said that MOU would facilitate the training of quarantine officers of the Ministry of Agriculture and treatment providers of the private sector, by providing the required skills on methyl bromide fumigation to prevent the spread of diseases and introduction of and plant products when exchange of commodities takes place among the countries.

Addressing the occasion, Australian Deputy High Commissioner Sonya Koppe, said that the government would continue to provide assistance to Sri Lanka in improving bio-security issues and increasing trade in agricultural and forestry products. She also said that flora and fauna in the country should be protected.

Measures devised by the International Plant Protection Convention and the Montreal protocol, would help to prevent the spread and introduction of pests and plant products when exchange of commodities takes place among countries. Fumigating with methyl bromide was a method of treatment used to prevent such occurrences, she added. The international sanitary and phytosantary measures devised by the International Plant Protection Convention of which Sri Lanka was a signatory, would help prevent the spread and introduction of pests and plant products when exchange of commodities takes place among countries. One of the reatment methods that was being utilized to prevent such occurrences was fumigating with Methyl Bromide. Although it had been recognized as a gas that depletes the ozone layer, provisions of the Montreal Protocol of which Sri Lanka was also a stakeholder, would allow the use of Methyl Bromide for quarantine and preshipment uses, subject to certain conditions until an alternative was found.

Quarantine applications with respect to Methyl Bromide are fumigation, by the use of Methyl Bromide as a fumigant to prevent the introduction and establishment of quarantine pests. Preshipment applications are those non quarantine applications applied within 21 days prior to export, to meet the official requirements of the exporting country.

Decisions of the Montreal Protocol would facilitate the critical use of Methyl Bromide for quarantine and preshipment uses while it has to be conducted under the direct supervision of the official organization of the respective country. In Sri Lanka, this responsibility was entrusted to the quarantine officers of the Seed Certification and Plant Protection Centre of the Agriculture Department.

The supervision and regulatory activities pertaining to Methyl Bromide fumigation, was hampered due to the lack of trained officers. In order to streamline the activities relating to Methyl Bromide fumigation effectively, it is vital to establish a mechanism to centralize the relevant activities. Therefore the Sri Lankan and Australian governments have jointly made arrangements to fulfill the above objectives and Cabinet approval was granted by the government of Sri Lanka to implement the arrangement.