New vehicle for Tonga's export drive [1]
Thursday, August 28, 2014 - 17:36. Updated on Thursday, August 28, 2014 - 21:21.
Siutoni Tupou, Tonga's new Export Pathway Manager, has a new vehicle, and equipment to help her maintain an important working relationship between Tonga's export farmers and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Forests and Fisheries
The Australian High Commissioner HE Brett Aldam today handed over a new full four wheel drive Suzuki Jimny vehicle, and a smart phone to the MAFFF Minister Hon. Sangster Saulala and Siutoni for her work.
The position of Export Pathway Manager, recently created at the MAFFF received the assistance under the Australian-funded Pacific Horticulture and Agricultural Market Access Program (PHAMA).
Siutoni's prime role is to ensure that existing export pathways for different commodities in Tonga remain open.
Tsutomu Nakao II, the Coordinator of PHAMA Tonga said this is a critical position within the Ministry’s Quarantine and Quality Management Division.
“We are funding the operational cost of the vehicle such as the insurance, fuel and its regular maintenance for two-years. We are also topping up the export manager’s salary so the total cost is over $50,000 pa’anga.”
Tsutomu said PHAMA works to maintain market access for commodities.
“It’s a critical position because you’ve got all of the stakeholders who have their roles, so the manager needs to work across multiple MAFFF divisions to ensure that market access is maintained for those export pathways,” he said,
Farmers
Afeaki, the vice-chairman of the Tonga Market Access Working Group, said there are some straightforward export pathways for coconut and Tongan taro, which exporters pack and ship overseas.
“We then have complicated pathways like watermelon, which has to be grown a certain way, and farmers have to spray and keep a spray diary, while the export packer has to be licensed and the watermelon then fumigated, which are all quite technical things.”
He said every couple of years New Zealand checks if all those things are done, and if they are not done properly they shut down the watermelon export pathway.
“The job of this person is make sure that all those things are done so that New Zealand does not stop the watermelon pathway. The manager's position is to ensure the export pathway stays open and keeps going so the farmers can grow and export and everybody makes money. We didn’t have this before and we had problems.”
He said the vehicle was required to make sure the manager could get out to the farms to ensure that farmers are growing.
Hon. Sangster Saulala thanked the Australian Government and acknowledged PHAMA’s great assistance to maintain market access to enable Tongan exports overseas.
Siutoni, who is a Senior Agricultural Officer, underwent a competitive process and was chosen from eight applicants for the new job.