DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: CERTIFICATION OF FIRST MANGO

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 003349

SIPDIS

USDA FOR FAS;
PANAMA FOR ANGEL CIELO, USDA/APHIS/IS;
USDA FOR DAN SHEESLEY, USDA/APHIS/IS; PAUL MCGOWAN,
USDA/APHIS/PPQ, RIVERDALE, MD; ERIC NICHOLS,
USDA/APHIS/IS/TST
DEPT PASS TO CRAIG FEDCHOCK, USTR;
DEPT FOR WHA AND EB;
USDOC FOR 4322/ITA/MAC/CARIBBEAN BASIN DIVISION/SCOTT SMITH

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: DR EAGR ETRD CAFTA
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: CERTIFICATION OF FIRST MANGO
TREATMENT FACILITY



1. (Summary) On June 4, 2005, USDA/APHIS certified the first
mango hot water treatment (HWT) facility in the Dominican
Republic (DR). On June 9, the first shipment of mangoes was
successfully exported to New York, under the supervision of
an APHIS TDY Officer as part of an APHIS Preclearance (PC)
Program. Export of mangoes was one of the Dominican
Republic's goals for the free trade agreement (CAFTA)(para
9). APHIS provided fruit fly (FF) trapper training to allow
the Secretaria de Estado de Agricultura (SEA) to comply with
the requirements of the PC Program Work Plan to include only
growers who are certified from Low FF Prevalence Areas to
participate in the PC Program. All APHIS costs for the
program have been funded by the HWT facility owner. The
Dominican Secretary of Agriculture toured the treatment
facility on June 10, 2005.

Certification Tests
--------------

2. During April 2005, the HWT facility ran two preliminary
tests. During the week of May 23, 2005 two APHIS experts
visited the facility, but were not able to certify the
facility. There were a multitude of issues to address -
including the circulation in the tank and between the crates,
set-point equipment (which has been replaced),the recording
device (needed to be modified),slow reaction of the hot
water heater to a drop in temperatures, calibration of the
setpoint and stationary sensors in the tank, and a lack of
the automatic starting sensor for the recorder. There was a
list of smaller items to attend to as well. The test run on
Wednesday, however, was quite close to meeting the
temperature/time requirements using mobile sensors.


3. The facility owners addressed the issues, including a
retrofit of the tank and basket for guidance into the tank so
that when the basket is dropped, the electronic sensor will
work 100 percent of the time. This sensor starts the
temperature recorder once all three baskets are placed in the
tank and will turn the printer off when the first basket is
removed from the tank. They also made other physical
modifications of the secured work area. During a second
visit by APHIS experts, the certification tests were
successful, and the facility was certified on June 4, 2005.
The DR Director of Plant Health (Sanidad Vegetal (SV)) and
five others from SEA/SV headquarters as well as the local
inspector were also present.


4. The APHIS TDY Officer assisted with the tests and started
working with the SEA inspectors and facility to supervise the
treatments of mangoes (from certified growers) to the United
States the following week. As of June 18, 55,701 kg have
been shipped.

Background on Preclearance Programs
--------------

5. Hot Water Treatment (HWT) is approved for mangoes from
certain countries in the Caribbean, Central and South
America, and Mexico, where certain fruit flies occur. Since
the regulations require treatment in the country of origin
with APHIS supervision, export of mangoes from these
countries to the United States requires a PC Program. The
first step is a formal request from the Ministry of
Agriculture. Before starting a PC program, the government or
industry group must provide information to APHIS such as the
product(s) to be shipped, volume, season, ports of exit and
entry, treatment facility sites, location and number of
packers/exporters, frequency of shipments, and safeguards.
The Preclearance Advisory Group (PAG) at APHIS headquarters
evaluates this information, to see if the volume justifies a
program and whether personnel are available to staff the
program. The Department of Plant Health must also commit to
active participation in the program.


6. If the PAG approves the proposal, a Work Plan needs to be
written and a cooperator identified, who will pay for all
costs in advance. Only one cooperator may be identified for
each commodity/group per country. This cooperator can be a
government entity, exporters group or association. An
average cost for preclearance programs with temporary duty
officers is $5,000 per week. Because mangoes are a fruitfly
host, a trapping and cutting program in the growing areas
must be incorporated into the Work Plan. In addition, plans
for treatment facilities normally need to be reviewed and
approved by APHIS prior to construction.

Background on Dominican Interest in Exporting Mangoes
-------------- --------------

7. SEA, exporters and other interested parties had asked
APHIS for information regarding exports of mangoes to the
United States numerous times prior to and since the arrival
of the current APHIS Area Director in 2000, but never took
any action, nor made a formal request for a Mango
Preclearance Program based on the information provided
(numerous times). In 2003, a businessman in Moca, Antonio
Taveras built a treatment facility, and then asked APHIS to
certify it. The APHIS Area Director explained the process
that must be followed before any mangoes could be exported
from the Dominican Republic to the United States and referred
him to the Subsecretary of Planning, SEA who could make a
formal request. Since the facility had already been built,
the plans could not be submitted for approval in advance;
however, they were submitted after SEA made a formal request
for preclearance. Modifications were needed to meet the APHIS
standards based upon the blueprints provided.


8. In January 2004, the PAG approved a Mango Preclearance
Program for the Dominican Republic. Mr. Taveras (the
cooperator) set up a trust fund, APHIS wrote a Work Plan
(which was signed by SEA and the cooperator),and SEA started
a trapping program in the mango areas. However, the facility
had mechanical difficulties with the treatment tank and was
not able to achieve the two successful trials required prior
to a visit of the APHIS treatment experts before the season
was mostly over. The cooperator decided to wait until 2005
to try again.

Links to CAFTA
--------------

9. The Dominican Republic signed the free trade agreement
with the United States and Central America (CAFTA) in August,

2004. One of their issues was access for mangoes to the
United States. This has now been accomplished via the
Preclearance Program. One of the CAFTA trade capacity
building activities was Fruit Fly Trapper Training, which had
USAID logistical support and APHIS instructors and content.
Although originally planned for 30, the final participant
tally was 42 from SEA, Instituto Dominicano de
Investigaciones Agropecuarias y Forestales (Government
Agricultural Research),Universidad Autonoma de Santo
Domingo, Junta Agroempresarial Dominicana (Agricultural
Exporters Association) and industry. The training allowed
the SEA to meet their obligation to certify growers as Low
Fruit Fly Prevalence Areas prior to being able to sell fruit
for HWT under the Preclearance Program.

Secretary Visit to Mango Facility

SIPDIS
--------------

10. On June 10, Secretary of Agriculture Amilcar Romero made
a technical visit to the mango facility. He was shown the
process by the plant owner, from arrival of the fruit, to the
cutting (with explanation by the local inspector),placement
of the cages in the tank, tour of the control booth,
explanations of the recording device, sensors, etc, packing
and stamping the boxes in the screen room, and loading the
air cargo igloo. The APHIS AD Cohen pointed out the
safeguards (fans, screens, etc). APHIS TDY Officer Garcia
showed the forms used, stamping of the boxes, placement of
the notice on the igloos, and placement of the APHIS seals.
AD Cohen and APHIS Agricultural Scientist Paula Morales spoke
with Secretary Romero about the need for SEA to explain to
Dominican Customs and Drug Agencies that they should not
break any APHIS seals, except with the APHIS TDY present, or
the treatment would be invalidated. APHIS would need to
supervise the opening of the seals to ensure the
phytosanitary integrity was kept, to place new seals after
the inspections and issue new certificates. They also spoke
about the trapping program and determination of Low Fruit Fly
Prevalence Areas.
HERTELL