US embassy cable - 05SANTODOMINGO3349

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