Pesticide issue threatens okra exports to Japan

Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor yesterday cautioned okra growers to reduce pesticide use in their crop and shift to integrated pest management (IPM) practices to save the multimillion-peso okra export trade to Japan.

He made this warning after Japan imposed early this year tight quarantine measures against fresh okra exports from the Philippines after they had been found to contain high levels of pesticide residues.

Montemayor said the action has seriously threatened the $13 million (P625) million) okra export business to Japan but added that the Arroyo government and local farmers have devised a strategy to save the lucrative trade from further decline and it looks like the game plan is beginning to work.

"When applicable, let’s all do our share in cutting heavy use of pesticides and shift to IPM to protect everybody’s health and the environment," he said.

In a memorandum to President Arroyo, Montemayor said since Jan. 23, 2001, Japanese quarantine inspectors had been ordered to detain all okra shipments from the Philippines after a load delivered last Jan. 22, 2002 had been found to contain pesticide residues at levels way above what is allowed.

A test conducted by the Japan Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) showed okra samples sourced from a Tarlac supplier that arrived Jan. 22 was found to contain 0.17 parts per million (ppm) of chlorpyrifos residues, beyond the allowable maximum residue level of 0.1 ppm

Montemayor said the incident was only the second in the past 20 years of the Japan okra export trade that residue levels of the poisonous pesticide had been found to be exceeding acceptable limits.

The first instance was Jan. 16, 2001, when the same supplier’s samples had been detected to contain high traces of the poisonous chemical, prompting Japanese government authorities to issue a stern warning.

But the second incident was too much for Japan and it ordered all quarantined okra shipments released only after a complete inspection shows the vegetable is found to be truly free from excessive chlorpyrifos residues.

Since the results of such tests take at least three days before each shipment can be released, the okra loses its freshness and becomes less marketable, bringing huge revenue losses to local exporters.

To resolve the issue, DA’s Agricultural Marketing Assistance Service, the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority, and the Bureau of Plant Industry, had begun training okra farmers on IPM and proper application of alternative insecticides that can substitute for chlorpyrifos.

Montemayor said to ensure food safety, exporters had also begun voluntarily submitting their okra samples for residue analysis at BPI’s pesticide analytical laboratory in Quezon City before shipping them to Japan.

As a result, Japan is beginning to soften its stiff quarantine regulations on local okra, with some exports already getting through because the strict pre-shipment inspection in the Philippines ensures that the vegetable can meet food safety standards in their country of destination, Montemayor said

Since the 1980s, the country had been exporting to Japan an average of 88.8 tons of fresh okra weekly valued at $240,000.

But since the pesticide erupted February this year, volume had dropped to 16.4 tons worth $45,200 tons, and the trade is just beginning to pick up, Montemayor added.