2013 Budget Allows for Extra Resource for Plant Market Access

In mid-June PMAC approved MPI’s 2013/14 workplan and budget for work supporting market access for plant products. This budget allows for an increase of 3 FTE’s. For some time PMAC members have been concerned about the lack of resources (people) working in this area.  Time and again market access issues for individual products ( e.g. the discovery of PSA-v in kiwifruit)  or threats to market access across all products (e.g. pest information requests from  Thailand to maintain access for New Zealand products) have resulted in people being pulled away from longer term activity to maintain market access for today’s produce.  The constant need to be reactive has left little time to build capacity within MPI and develop younger staff members so that there is a reserve of people and knowledge to cope with future needs.

The Government has placed a cap on the number of public servants that can be employed within each government department and so it required the Director General’s approval for FTE allowances to be moved from other sections within MPI. The business case for this move was approved earlier this year but their employment was delayed pending PMAC’s approval of the resourcing level and budget.   These additional resources will sit in the plant exports team and the market access directorate. Recruitment will begin immediately

So what does the 2013/14 workplan contain? The budget and workplan are divided into food safety and phytosanitary work areas.  These components are then subdivided into core (underpinning) activity and projects. Specifically:

Core activities are those activities that need to occur every year. They are required to run the assurance systems, assist exporters and build our trading partners confidence in New Zealand plant products. Work in this area includes:

• Maintaining and validating the integrity of the assurance system. This includes such activities as approving and maintaining MPI approved organisations and annual audits of IVA activity.
• Relationships with key markets (such as China, India, Japan, Australia, USA). Relationship building requires regular contact with officials and allows discussion about access issues and plans for the future.
• Updating information in Importing Countries Phytosanitary Requirement’s (ICPR’s).  Over the last few years MPI has noticed an increase in the number of changes being made by many markets. Work in this area involves not only locating and documenting the changes but also contesting them if the change potentially disadvantages (unjustifiably) New Zealand exporters.
• Updating information on markets Maximum residue limits on the MPI MRL database. Over the last couple of years the Asia MRL project has added to our knowledge in this area. A final report on this project is expected later this year.
• Maintaining the ePhyto system which produces phytosanitary certificates.

Projects have been planned in specific areas and are prioritized to ensure that the highest priority projects are completed first. Projects have traditionally been designed to manage risks, enhance processes or collate information about target markets. These projects will be regularly reported on at PMAC meetings and in this newsletter

In the 2013/14 year the agreed projects include:

• Development of a plan to proactively deal with the market access implications of a future Fruit Fly incursion
• Reviewing and streamlining the certification system. New Zealand is almost unique in using third parties in the way that we do and devolving inspection responsibility to packhouses etc.  We need to be continually reviewing our system to make sure it remains fit for purpose and has the confidence of our trading partners.
• Scoping an upgrade for managing ICPR information so that it can be linked with ePhyto
• Progressing electronic transfer of phytosanitary data to other countries. Last year electronic transfer of information was set up to Australia. Other countries including China are asking for this facility to be set up as soon as possible.
• Responding to Food safety initiatives in our key markets.       Food safety issues have had a higher profile over recent years and many of our markets are actively up scaling their emphasis on food safety. PMAC anticipates work will increase in this area and more issues will arise that need a NZ Inc. response in relatively short time frames. A project is currently underway to coordinate New Zealand’s response to the US FDA’s proposed Food safety rules for food destined for sale in the USA.

The work plan does not include sector specific work items such as gaining market access to Australia for Zantadescia, or developing Official Assurance Programmes e.g. for the export of apples to Japan. Sector specific work is undertaken in response to a request by the sector and is paid for at an hourly rate by the sector/ organization concerned. Cost recovered funding however does help ensure there are sufficient experienced people available in MPI to undertake this work and maintain the relationships in our key markets which will facilitate a positive outcome. See http://www.pmac.co.nz/about-us/mpi-workplan for additional details