The national director of Plant Health of the MIDA, Darío Gordón, affirms that no quarantine pest has entered Panama during the last three years.Producers from Tierras Altas, province of Chiriquí, delivered a document to the Minister of Agricultural Development, Eduardo Carles, in which they convey the union's concern about the entry of onions from the Netherlands.The onion from this country, warns in the report, could enter contaminated with the microscopic plague called Dytolenchus dipsaci.Darío Gordón, national director of Plant Health of the MIDA, affirms that no quarantine pest has entered Panama during the last three years.“Our phytosanitary control system is working”, explains Gordon.Regarding the producers' request that imports of the Dutch product be suspended in order to buy it in the United States, Gordon points out that this plague affects the main onion producers: the United States, the Netherlands, Chile, and Peru.Gordon details that when the product leaves the exporting nation, it comes with an export health certificate and, in addition to this control, when it enters, the Panamanian Food Authority (Aupsa) takes samples and sends them to the Plant Health laboratories.The work in the laboratories, specifically of the Dytolenchus dipsaci, consists of analyzes in the different stages of the nematode.He added that another factor they analyze is whether the product is for consumption or for cultivation.“When it is imported for planting, there is a greater risk of spreading the plague in the production fields,” shares the official.In the case of this plague, which Gordon describes as a worm that can only be seen through microscope tests, it can also affect other products, such as potatoes.Panama, since 2015, by resolution has prohibited an imported product for consumption from being transferred to the cultivation field.Regarding the producers' request that onions only be imported from countries free of the plague, Gordon says that there are very few and that international agreements must impose less restrictive measures than this.C/ Alejandro A. Duque G. - Box 0815-00507, Zone 4Cover of the form of June 24, 2022Subscribe to our newsletter Receive daily news directly in your email