NEWS reports on Tuesday said that Russia has temporarily stopped importing potatoes from Bangladesh expressing concerns related to food safety and disease risks. The ban was slapped after getting confirmation of Bangladesh’s inability in controlling plant diseases and exporting disease-free potatoes. Such ban on exporting shrimp to several western destinations has shrunk the country’s shrimp cultivation, which spelt huge losses to cultivators over the past years. A failure to reach the EU or USA standards has resulted in the imposition of bans from important trading partners which makes it clear that the government should be serious in controlling food quality standards by setting up a world class standard testing and certification centre.
As the ban was slapped, Bangladeshi exporters have taken the decision positively citing the fact that the Russian decision will strengthen our capacity to improve the phytosanitary systems to meet the standard. And the Agriculture Ministry has already taken steps to upgrade the systems and infrastructure to export disease-free potatoes and vegetables. Statistical estimations said that Bangladesh exports on an average ten lakhs tonnes of potatoes every year and of the current fiscal year’s 70,000 tonnes of potato export target, only 14,000 tonnes were shipped to Russia. In FY 2013-14, Bangladesh exported more than 20,000 tonnes of potato to Russia out of a total of 103,000 tonnes.
Report said, the Russian authorities suggested upgrading the phytosanitary system, applying security measures to prevent use of fake phytosanitary certificates and proper inspection at ports to ensure shipment of safe agricultural produce. Russian agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor said that Bangladesh did not ensure adequate standards to prevent the entry of bacterium Ralstonia solanacearum which forced them to impose the ban.
Russian Ambassador to Bangladesh Alexander Nikolaev has meanwhile proposed constructing a cold storage in Chittagong to export disease-free potatoes to Russia, citing potato exports from Bangladesh to Russia were on the rise as demand is high. He mentioned that Bangladesh needs to check sanitary and phytosanitary measures strictly to increase potato exports to Russia and now around eight months later Russia imposed the ban — which should be a wake up call for our authorities. He said that the year was a good time to increase Bangladesh’s export volumes to Russia as some countries have imposed a sanction on Russia. If the Bangladesh government allows construction of the cold storage the Russian potato importers will help in testing the crop to be kept in the cold storage. Bangladesh’s exports to Russia rose to over $283 million in fiscal 2013-14 from $208.29 million a year ago.
Traders blame Bangladesh basically opted for the sanction by not taking any preventive action despite the unofficial friendly advice of the Russian Ambassador, in this respect. Administrative failure has slowed our exports and it has resulted in our losing Russian export orders. It is time that the Government should set up a cold storage and standard testing centre immediately to block the potential bans on our potato exports to Russia.
As the ban was slapped, Bangladeshi exporters have taken the decision positively citing the fact that the Russian decision will strengthen our capacity to improve the phytosanitary systems to meet the standard. And the Agriculture Ministry has already taken steps to upgrade the systems and infrastructure to export disease-free potatoes and vegetables. Statistical estimations said that Bangladesh exports on an average ten lakhs tonnes of potatoes every year and of the current fiscal year’s 70,000 tonnes of potato export target, only 14,000 tonnes were shipped to Russia. In FY 2013-14, Bangladesh exported more than 20,000 tonnes of potato to Russia out of a total of 103,000 tonnes.
Report said, the Russian authorities suggested upgrading the phytosanitary system, applying security measures to prevent use of fake phytosanitary certificates and proper inspection at ports to ensure shipment of safe agricultural produce. Russian agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor said that Bangladesh did not ensure adequate standards to prevent the entry of bacterium Ralstonia solanacearum which forced them to impose the ban.
Russian Ambassador to Bangladesh Alexander Nikolaev has meanwhile proposed constructing a cold storage in Chittagong to export disease-free potatoes to Russia, citing potato exports from Bangladesh to Russia were on the rise as demand is high. He mentioned that Bangladesh needs to check sanitary and phytosanitary measures strictly to increase potato exports to Russia and now around eight months later Russia imposed the ban — which should be a wake up call for our authorities. He said that the year was a good time to increase Bangladesh’s export volumes to Russia as some countries have imposed a sanction on Russia. If the Bangladesh government allows construction of the cold storage the Russian potato importers will help in testing the crop to be kept in the cold storage. Bangladesh’s exports to Russia rose to over $283 million in fiscal 2013-14 from $208.29 million a year ago.
Traders blame Bangladesh basically opted for the sanction by not taking any preventive action despite the unofficial friendly advice of the Russian Ambassador, in this respect. Administrative failure has slowed our exports and it has resulted in our losing Russian export orders. It is time that the Government should set up a cold storage and standard testing centre immediately to block the potential bans on our potato exports to Russia.
