Tongans can now ship watermelons to New Zealand after temporary permits were issued to exporters under special conditions, according to Radio New Zealand (RNZ).

Nearly two months ago, New Zealand halted the import of watermelons from Tonga following the discovery of live fruit fly in a shipment. 

Peter Thomson from Biosecurity New Zealand said approval had been given to Tonga to implement corrective actions and improve processes for exporting watermelons.

“The approval allows a number of trial shipments, which will be carefully monitored for compliance with the agreed export processes.”

He said Tonga would need to complete the trial shipments without any non-compliance issues.

“MPI [Ministry of Primary Industries] will then fully reopen the pathway and closely monitor it to ensure export processes continue to be undertaken.”

New Zealand is currently free from fruit fly species that attack commercial fruit.

“If introduced to New Zealand, these fruit flies could have devastating consequences to our horticultural production and trade,” he said.

Excess fruit

Meanwhile, Tonga's Trade Minister, Hon Samiu Vaipulu said a more organized system is underway to avoid fruit fly larvae being detected in products.

RNZ reported that melon growers who export through the government and were affected by the suspension, had been paid 50 percent of their price and that the government was looking at paying for produce which was destroyed in New Zealand.

Meanwhile Tongans have had to drastically reduce the price of watermelon locally to sell the excess of export quality fruit.