Exports only fill one third of approved list

Samoa has 37 different fruits and vegetables approved for export to New Zealand – but is currently only exporting 13 of those items.

That huge gap between potential and export reality has been under discussion recently with a two man team from the Ministry of Primary Industry in New Zealand. “We didn’t approve these by ourselves,” explains Senior Adviser for Pacific Market Access, Nacanieli Waqa, from New Zealand’s Ministry of Primary Industries.

“You requested for these 37 items,” he said, referring to Samoa. Mr. Waqa was in Samoa last month as part of an ongoing review of the 12 Pacific countries that have approvals to export to New Zealand. That review, beginning in 2012, saw the ministry trace back to when approvals were given for various exports and to measure volumes since then, he said.

For some exports, those volumes have been zero. Improving volumes of approved export items will take a “paradigm shift” in the way island states monitor markets in New Zealand, getting that information to farmers much more quickly, and consistently, he said.

That huge gap between potential and export reality has been under discussion recently with a two man team from the Ministry of Primary Industry in New Zealand. “We didn’t approve these by ourselves,” explains Senior Adviser for Pacific Market Access, Nacanieli Waqa, from New Zealand’s Ministry of Primary Industries.

“You requested for these 37 items,” he said, referring to Samoa. Mr. Waqa was in Samoa last month as part of an ongoing review of the 12 Pacific countries that have approvals to export to New Zealand.

That review, beginning in 2012, saw the ministry trace back to when approvals were given for various exports and to measure volumes since then, he said. For some exports, those volumes have been zero. Improving volumes of approved export items will take a “paradigm shift” in the way island states monitor markets in New Zealand, getting that information to farmers much more quickly, and consistently, he said.

Visiting last month, Mr. Waqa and an assistant were here to conduct a “scoping” exercise looking at issues keeping Samoa and other Pacific Islands from meeting market demand for fresh produce in the region’s second largest economy.

“There are problems everywhere in the region,” said Mr. Waqa. “It’s almost the same problems everywhere.”

These issues include paperwork failures, a lack of information about market changes, and an inability to meet market demands. In wide ranging interview, Mr. Waqa explained the background to these problems, and how New Zealand is working with Pacific Island countries to try and find solutions.

One example given to Samoa Observer by an agriculture industry source was a consignment of limes that was destroyed because of a simple paperwork error. Mr. Waqa explains that, in cases like that, New Zealand Quarantine officials must follow protocol and “bin” the consignment.

“If you don’t have the documentation right then it won’t enter New Zealand,” he said. “When the paper work is in order then that facilitates the entry of the consignment. If it’s not, we can’t take it.

“It either has to go back or we have to destroy it.” Some people find it hard to understand why a simple paper work error means a consignment has to be destroyed?

“We need verification. If a consignment has been inspected by Samoa Quarantine then we need to know that inspection has been done.

“Otherwise,” he asks, “do we need a Samoa Quarantine officer to come down with every consignment?”

That’s why there is paperwork, he said. “When a Quarantine officer signs, then that’s our proof that the inspection has been properly done. “We can’t take word of mouth, we can’t just take a phone call or an email. Otherwise then it could be done by anyone? Mr. Waqa nods in agreement.

“Only properly gazetted Quarantine Officers can sign the paperwork, not any Tom, Dick or John. Otherwise the Prime Minister, or the minister could sign it - but they can’t.” New Zealand agriculture is worth billions – is that what it comes down to? “Every country has the right to protect their own sovereignty. That is why you have Quarantine regulations. Samoa too has a right to protect its own borders.”

Mr. Waqa said that failed consignments can be a common experience across Pacific Islands. This is due to “a lack of formal operational instructions that ensure Quarantine staff follow the same protocols, each and every time.” “I guess it’s the working systems. Ensuring that Quarantine services have the operational From front page instructions to guide them,” he said.

“Some countries don’t have those operational instructions. So as a result when people join Quarantine Services there’s nothing to train them with. “Everything is done by word of mouth.

“There’s nothing to train them and enhance them and to refresh people in the details of operational instructions.”

Quarantine services in each island should also have a check system, said Mr. Waqa. Joining the Ministry of Primary Industry in 2011, Mr. Waqa is the second Pacific Islander to hold the position of Senior Adviser for Pacific Market Access.

The first now works in Samoa for F.A.O., the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation. Leaving Fiji and working in New Zealand opened his eyes to the other side of the export industry, including reality on the ground for New Zealand importers. Outside of paperwork, he said there was a lack of recognition at the policy level that market information changes quickly and needs to be updated constantly, not just annually or only at each strategic plan.

Demand for different fruit and vegetables is always changing, he said. One seasonal cycle that is permanent, he said, and that island exporters sometimes still fail to understand is New Zealand not being an all-year market for fresh produce.

New Zealand, he said, buys its own fruit and vegetables during summer, with the main opportunity for island exporters being during winter months. “We don’t understand the market. “When I came to New Zealand I thought that we exported to New Zealand from January to December. “That’s wrong.

“The year for the Pacific is only during the winter. During summer they’ve got their own stuff.

“That’s why we have a lot of complaints from farmers,” said Mr. Waqa. Surely this has been known to ministries of Agriculture for decades? “The information is there but who is responsible for transferring that information from point a to point b, and from point b to point c?

“Some of the information is outdated and some of the information is being used from 2002 when the market has changed 700 times already since then,” he said. Another recent example of export failure in Samoa saw public criticism over farmers not being able to get their taro accepted for export.

Asked about that example, Mr. Waqa said that, right across the Pacific, farmers are told to “plant, plant, plant.” Those days are over, he said. “As a farmer you can’t invest in planting three hectares if you are not sure that there’s a market.”

Asked for clarification whether some taro varieties have clearance and others don’t, he said, “Approval that was issued for taro is for all varieties of that species.

“But,” he added, “it has to have a market. “If the market wants ‘X’ variety then we have to give what the market wants.”

Keeping updated about what the market wants is a constant process, he said. “To me that is where some of the confusion lies.

“Some people think that this is the government role.

“But government only opens the door, and provides the material and perhaps gives people land but when it comes to the actual market, that’s not the government.

“That’s where the private sector comes in.”

Finding the right people to monitor markets addresses two issues facing island exporters, he said. 1. Quarantine approval given for an item, but no trade yet.

2. Quarantine approval given, but exporters are not satisfying the market demand. “Again the question is whether that information is making it back?”

In many cases, “that intel is not making it back. The feedback system is not there.

“This is what you are not being told. “While you are being told plant, plant, plant … the market has changed.

“That’s why the market is flooded in August to September,” he said, giving one example.

“It’s not just Samoa, it’s Fiji as well,” and other countries. Mr. Waqa said there was a need to streamline information flows, so that ordinary market information does not have to filter its way up through the chain of command in each ministry, but can be passed on quickly to farmers.

Otherwise, “we’re basing our decisions on outdated information – in terms of the way forward, the question is how we can continue to have access to fresh information.

“It’s not only receiving that information, it’s what system do they have for using that information,” he said.

At the moment, “if there is a slot for one to two months, then it can take some people one to two months just to get read and then by that time that slot has closed.”

Some farmers look at the latest budget for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, of over $30 million tala, and grow understandably frustrated that they are not getting better services for their tax dollar.

Part of the problem for government and island exporters alike is the growing complexity of New Zealand markets.

Where before there used to be one or two importers, there are now hundreds. Mr. Waqa confirmed that picture, saying that the “information is out there but it’s in pockets – it’s disconnected.” Getting consistent access to that information is central to achieving export success.

“With trade, we cannot only just focus on one end.

“There should also be work on the import end. “There has to be a change from the way things used to be done in the past.

“There has got to be a paradigm shift from the way we have done things in the last 50 to 60 years,” said Mr. Waqa. “We are not blaming anyone but it’s just because the information is still not in place.”

“We can’t just blame anyone. We can’t blame the farmers. The ministries cannot be blamed. They have their core role.” Mr. Waqa said solutions would not be found by blaming government but taking a “holistic” approach to the entire industry, across borders.

Instead, “Solutions come from knowing the different players involved,” he said. “Gone are the days where we have focused all our resources at the export end. “We just told them, plant, plant, plant but that has to go.

“There has to be a holistic approach.

“Our systems need to be improved to facilitate change in the market.”

And that means recognizing the role government has to play in those changes, he said.

“We have got to respect government and their role,” he said.

That means identifying areas that needing changing at policy level so that there is a “freer” flow of information. “And to transfer it right down to the farmer level.”

This could also include continued training to help farmers understand the complexities of the export market. From previous page There are, he said, “so many pages of regulations that farmers don’t understand.” Other problems in Samoa? “Unfortunately some of this information I can’t divulge at this end,” he said. “We have picked up a lot during this scoping exercise and this has got to be gone through. “We’re not coming over to spill the beans and then to go back, no.

“But we are coming back to hold workshops and training and work with the government so we can refocus the system in terms of a quick flow to the market.”

He said they were hoping to return in April or May to work with government, farmers and exporters.

As well as better market information, and industry education, Mr. Waqa said there was also a need in some countries for a stronger private sector role.

“All the countries have got strong farmers but some of the countries don’t have a strong private sector to facilitate the exports from farmers to market.

“There are some countries where they have been doing a lot of hand-holding and baby sitting,” he said, referring to government.

“We need the commitment of the private sector to identify the opportunities and join in and take over. “We need continual review.” He acknowledges this is no easy task.

“It’s scary to try and lock down the commodities because that can change every six months.” He agrees there are also complications from those who jump into a booming market for short term profit and then disappear.

“Those are the ones we call the fly by night.” He did not respond directly to a question about the need for export licenses, instead saying that, “We need to monitor when there are issues at the market – we should be able to track back and find out where the problems are.”

There are also issues when “a market is overpopulated because there are people who are committed for life and then there are the opportunists.

“There should be a way of controlling the market space,” he said, “but it’s going to be a difficult one.” How are other countries doing in comparison to Samoa? For example, Fiji?

Mr. Waqa said that Fiji is currently exporting about 35 of the 50 or so items approved for New Zealand markets.

Countries that are approved for exporting various items to New Zealand are Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, New Caledonia and French Polynesia (for cut flowers).