The freshly instated president of Chilean grower group Fedefruta has met with senators in the port city of Valparaiso to emphasize the need for a new law that protects perishable products like fruit from the effects of strikes.

Juan Carolus Brown put the proposal to the Agricultural Commission of the Upper House, in a bid to prevent the kind of damages that occurred in April 2013 and January this year from port strikes.

Fedefruta president Juan Carolus Brown gives a presentation to senators in Valparaiso.

During the session, Brown also proposed the formation of an organization whose purpose would be to avoid conflicts in the port sector.

"The fruit industry is not in a condition to face another crisis of this kind," Brown said.

"Fruit cannot wait for a resolution to a conflict without deteriorating, or the jamming of the supply chain with the impossibility of transporting the fruit and preventing fruit harvests in orchards, which affects a sector that has 450,000 workers and 28,000 growers."

Click here for background information about the strikes that gripped the industry earlier this year.

Brown said the strikes put the fruit export industry in an "uncomfortable and impotent situation", and therefore he valued the intentions of the current government and the Minister for Labor, Javiera Blanco, to resolve the issue through what is called the 'Short Law', along with an invitation from the Agriculture Commission of the Senate to hear Fedefruta's proposals.

"With their work, legislators can do a lot to support ag, and so we think it is good they allow us to share our vision for the fruit industry and what it needs to be enhanced," Bown said.

The release added that senators also showed their concerns over phytosanitary-related issues, such as the pest Lobesia Botrana and how to control and eradicate it.

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