Durga Prasad Upreti, senior agro economist with Agricultural Commodity Export Promotion Program (ACEPP) under the Department of Agriculture said they would soon send citrus fruits, although in small volume, to Tibet. [break]
Nepal started to take initiative for export after it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China during the Nepal-China-Tibet Trade Facilitation Committee meeting held in Lhasa in July last year. The MoU paved the way for Nepal to export oranges and sweet oranges to Tibet.
“This export, albeit in small quantity, will open the door for exporting our citrus products to China,” Upreti said, adding, “It took us an entire year for preparation. We have made sure that all conditions mentioned in the trade agreement documents have been met.”
ACEPP has already corresponded to the Chinese government for quarantine simplification.
“As part of our preparation, selected orchards in both the districts are being closely monitored to make sure that the products are disease-free. We have also finalized routes to transport the produce to the customs point and also trading farmers´ group for grading and packaging of fruits,” added Upreti.
Speaking at a regional annual review program of the fiscal year 2012/13 in Lalitpur on Friday, Ramesh Humagain, chief of District Agricultural Development Office, Sindhuli, said they have selected ten orchards for exporting sweet oranges to China for this year. “The estimated production will be about 70 tons this year,” he added.
According to official, equal volume or oranges from Syangja will be exported to Tibet this year.
Some Chinese traders, who supply apple to Kathmandu through Tatopani customs, have agreed to transport fruits to the customs points from the orchards.
Talking to this daily, Shukadev Mainali, senior plant quarantine officer at Tatopani Customs Point, said Chinese quarantine officials based in Khasa are currently doing quarantine risk analysis. “We had a meeting with Chinese quarantine officials two weeks ago,” Mainali said. “Their major concern is on quality and pests. We will soon organize another round of meeting with them.”
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