Exporting fresh produce a challenge for Pacific islands growers

Putting fresh products onto supermarket shelves in other countries is a major challenge, said Annalize Struwig, an independent consultant, who evaluated Tonga’s progress under the Pacific Horticultural and Agricultural Market Access (PHAMA) Program.

Annalize was in Nuku‘alofa last week, 29 April – 3 May 2014, meeting national program coordinators from five countries: Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. They looked at what Tonga’s Market Access Working Group has been doing right, and how they are, step by step, creating opportunities for a new era of export farming in Tonga and the region.

“Before I did a review of PHAMA Phase One I don’t think I realized how complicated an issue the export of fresh products really is,” she said.

“The PHAMA program has been instrumental in making sure that the right people sit around the table so that they can have a coordinated and structured discussion around what is being produced, what are the priorities, opportunities and exports, and what is the whole process we need to go through to make sure we have market access for those products,” she said.

http://matangitonga.to/2014/05/07/exporting-fresh-produce-challenge-pacific-islands-growers