Keynote Remarks By Tilafono David Hunter, CEO Of MAF
Tilafono David Hunter, CEO of MAF
Photo: Google Image
Keynote Remarks by Tilafono David Hunter, CEO of MAF
on behalf of
Hon La’aulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Fosi Schmidt
Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries
“Managing Biosecurity Risks with Sea Container Hygiene System”
Friday, 24th February @ 9.00am – Taumeasina Island Resort
Reverend Toleafoa,
Distinguished Participants,
SPC Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure, on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon La’aulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Fosi Schmidt, to welcome you all this morning to the workshop on Managing Biosecurity Risks with Sea Container Hygiene System, organized by our Ministry and the Safe Agricultural Trade Facilitation through Economic integration in the Pacific (SAFE Pacific) project based at the Pacific Community (SPC), and sponsored by the European Union. SPC is a key collaborator in this effort in promoting sustainability and providing technical support.
The SAFE project aims to provide targeted assistance to support small Pacific Island Countries to increase export capacity and improve economic growth. It assists Pacific ACP member states to address the barriers in accessing the export market, enhancing value-added products and improving compliance with international standards.
The majority of the world’s trading activities (exports and imports), an estimated 80-90%, are transported via the ocean for which sea containers are very important. While assisting the exchange of commodities and products of various kinds between countries, sea containers have always been in the limelight as a pathway through which contaminating pests sneak into other countries’ borders. To prevent this risk, the New Zealand Ministry of Primary Industries (NZMPI) and the Australia Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) have jointly initiated the regional Sea Container Hygiene System (SCHS) to assist Pacific Island Countries in the movement of clean, pest-free containers. Our country continues to face challenges from increasing trade, climate change, emerging risks and more recently, COVID 19 pandemic and the 5F crisis (food, feed, fuel, fertilizer, finance). Despite the uncertainties associated with these challenges, it raises even more, the need to ensure that our agriculture and exports are protected from the ravages of plant pests and diseases. Ensuring a supply of fresh and wholesome foods is now more important than ever, and with the challenges of emerging risks associated with trading of goods via sea containers, and if we are not careful, access to a safe and stable supply of food would be compromised.
We all know about the devastating effects of pests like Coconut Rhinoceros beetle, Giant African snail and others, which were (accidentally) introduced into our country most likely via imported soil and plant material, and on sea containers. These pests continue to pose serious threat to our food production and income security. Our best line of defense therefore is the protection of our borders from pest and disease intrusion, because admittedly, we don’t have the capacity and resources to control and manage the spread of these pests and diseases once they are in our country.
Though sea containers have transformed the shipping industry through opening more trade channels, they are a potential biosecurity risk that could seriously threaten our agriculture, our environment and our national economy.
The implementation of the SCHS will help ease biosecurity processes because sea containers at the port of export go through standard cleaning procedures. Therefore, we all play an important role from exporters to pack-house operators to accredited SCHS cleaning facilities to forward freighters, shipping lines, stevedores, and border agencies, to ensure we continue to comply so that biosecurity interventions are reduced. We need to do all we can to work with the SCHS to mitigate the challenges emerging from biosecurity risks to protect our food security and nutrition, and exports.
This workshop will inform our participants of SCHS, a biosecurity programme developed to manage contamination and transport of hitch-hiker pests via sea containers that continue to threaten our fragile ecosystems and biodiversity.
On behalf of the Hon Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, I would like to acknowledge with much appreciation, the financial support from the European Union, and the technical assistance from SPC, for this SAFE project. I wish you all fruitful discussions and I hope the outcomes from your workshop will provide lessons that will not only strengthen collaborations and maintain biosecurity compliance, but also help enhance Samoa’s presence in the international market place.
Thank you for your attention. God bless and Soifua!